God of War through the ages: Han Xin

Chapter 18 Surprise Attack on Chencang
Every time he saw the incomparable self-confidence on Han Xin's face, Liu Bang was deeply moved: there is a general around, so why not be afraid of Xiang Yu!
The three masters in the early Han Dynasty were all great figures who were not born in the world. Xiao He led the political logistics, Zhang Liang led the strategizing, and Han Xin led the military killing. They were all used by Liu Bang. From this point, Xiang Yu had already lost the most important intelligence in the decisive battle between the two armies. backup support.

The structure of the Three Heroes in the early Han Dynasty has been formed. Although Zhang Liang is not with Liu Bang at this time, his function itself overlaps with that of Han Xin to a certain extent, so Han Xin's intervention fills the strategic gap when Zhang Liang was not around.Both Liu Bang and Xiao He are not good at strategic planning. With Han Xin by his side, Liu Bang has the greatest sense of strategic security.

The time to decide the fate of Han Xin and everyone else is finally coming. The time is in August of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 BC). At this time, it is only four months since Liu Banggang arrived in Nanzheng.Before enjoying the majestic scenery of the Hanzhong Mountains, Han Wang Liu Bang decided to adopt General Han Xin's trick of "building plank roads in the open and crossing Chencang secretly", crossing the sea and going out of the Three Qin Dynasty in the east to fight the Central Plains decisively.

A very important reason why Liu Bang chose this time to send troops is that at this time, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, had fallen into the quagmire of Zhao and Qi chaos and could not get out. Tian Rong and Chen Yu joined forces to fight against Zhang Er, who was attached to Xiang Yu.Xiang Yu focused all his attention on these rebellious princes and kings. He always believed that Zhao and Qi were Chu's confidantes. Once Tian Rong and others became popular, Chu's hegemony would be seriously threatened.

As for Liu Bang, Xiang Yu didn't have much interest anymore. There were few major generals and the remote location was not enough to threaten Yu Chu. Besides, Zhang Han and the others guarding the Three Qin Dynasty were enough to deal with Liu Bang.At this time, when the Han sent troops, it was possible to take advantage of Xiang Yu's inability to look westward. The Chu army was on the eastern front. Even if Zhang Han was in a hurry, with Xiang Yu's short-sightedness, he would not go west in person, so the Han army had to race against time. The battle plan for going east out of the Sanqin.

Xiang Yu couldn't make it through for the time being, and he couldn't pose a fatal threat to Liu Bang, but Liu Bang's future was still unclear.

I don't know how Liu Bang feels in his heart to entrust his own destiny to someone he is completely unfamiliar with, but this is the only choice Liu Bang can make.In essence, Liu Bang is more addicted to "gambling" than Xiang Yu, and he can afford it and let it go.Now it’s meaningless to think about what happens if you fail. Even if Han Xin gambled away all Liu Bang’s bets and his head fell to the ground, it would not be in vain to come to the world with great vigor.

Han Xin also knew the weight of the burden on his shoulders. He didn't know Xiang Yu's character. Once tens of thousands of Han troops were defeated and fell into Xiang Yu's hands, what else could he do except be buried alive?However, Han Xin never imagined failure, because he confidently believed that the name Han Xin represented victory, and he would not lose to Xiang Yu, let alone Zhang Han.

"Building plank roads brightly, crossing Chencang secretly", this is such a great tactical concept, Xiang Yu couldn't think of it, Zhang Han couldn't think of it, even Han Xin felt incredible for himself.It is already a very perfect battle plan to confuse Zhang Han under the illusion of building a plank road and attract the attention of the three kings, but Han Xin's wisdom is more than that.After confirming the so-called construction of the plank road, the "foreman" sent by Liu Bang turned out to be Fan Kuai.Moreover, Liu Bang gave Fan Kuai a death order: to complete the work within a hundred days, otherwise he will come to see him.

After receiving this inexplicable order, Fan Kui almost swears on the spot: What kind of grudge do you have with me, let me send you to death!

No wonder Fan Kui got mad on the spot. The plank road cannot be built overnight. It is a huge project that took hundreds of years to complete.Although Liu Bang gave Fan Kui strong soldiers and tried his best to supply materials, but there is no three to five years that can't finish the work at all, three months?Make his grandma a ghost!

Fan Kuai is a military general, he longs to hold a halberd, ride a strong horse, gallop across the battlefield, and live up to his heroic name. How can he be a foreman and deal with stones and wood every day? Who came up with such a bad idea?But it is a bounden duty for soldiers to obey orders, whether it is Liu Bang's idea or Han Xin's, as a general, Fan Kuai must strictly follow orders.

It is not hard to guess why Han Xin chose Fan Kui to perform this task. Fan Kui has been fighting with Liu Bang for many years.If Han Xin came to build the plank road, after Zhang Han knew about it, he would not care who Han Xin was, but where Fan Kui went.This may make Zhang Han guess that the Han army will take a strange path to attack Sanqin.Sending Fan Kui to attract Zhang Han's attention would create the illusion that the main attack direction of the Han army was eclipsing the middle path. Han Xin just wanted to put Fan Kui's fake bait into the water to interfere with Zhang Han's judgment as a big fish.

The fake bait was put into the water, and then Han Xin would go down to the river to fish.As the general of the Han Dynasty, he will personally lead the tens of thousands of soldiers of the Han army over the mountains and mountains, and start the most difficult journey in his life, purely in the sense of geography.

It's not that Liu Bang was worried that the king of Han accompanied the army, and there was no need to follow the army to monitor Han Xin.The significance of Liu Bang's entourage is not military. With Han Xin in the army, there is no need to worry about everything. The significance lies in politics.The greatest military guarantee for the Han army to break out of the Qinling Mountains and enter Guanzhong was Han Xin, but Liu Bang was the greatest political guarantee for the Han army to gain a foothold in Guanzhong.Because Liu Bang's benevolent and virtuous image has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the fathers and children of Sanqin, only Liu Bang himself can stabilize the situation in Guanzhong at the fastest speed and gain a firm foothold in Guanzhong.

First military, then politics, walking steadily on two legs.Today's most outstanding military genius and the most outstanding political genius stand side by side, the world's interests are invincible!In a sense, Han Xin is the supreme commander of this army, and Liu Bang is the political commissar of this army.

Liu Bang decided to serve as a "political commissar" with Han Xin's large army, and the burden of the logistics minister naturally fell on the shoulders of Prime Minister Xiao He.Looking at the military and political system of the Han Dynasty, there is no one more suitable for logistics support than Xiao He.

Xiao He has a calm personality, is not easy to be happy or angry, is as careful as a hair, and is good at handling small things. These are the strengths that Liu Bang and Han Xin can't match.Liu Bang and Han Xin are fighting bloody battles on the front line. What they need most is the continuous supply of military supplies from the rear to ensure the safety and smooth flow of this lifeline. Only Xiao He can do it, and Liu Bang can rest assured.As the King of Han, Liu Bang gave Xiao He an order: collect the rent from Bachuan and Shu, and give food to the army.Front-line soldiers have food to eat, clothes to wear, bows that are good for arrows, and halberds that can pierce the bones, which is the merit of the prime minister.

Looking at Xiao He with slightly gray hair on his head, Han Xin felt his head warmed up. It was Xiao He's own effort that lifted him to the position of general.For Xiao He's kindness, Han Xin must also succeed, otherwise he will have no face to face Xiao He.

Han Xin and Liu Bang walked on the mountain path, the road was rough, Han Xin leaned on the ground with his sword, and moved forward with difficulty.The weather was not too hot, but the long trek through the mountains still made all the soldiers sweat and sweat, but no one complained.Because they know that no matter how difficult this mountain road is, it is the only way to their hometown.

It is said that there is a road on the mountain, but in fact it is not an official road at all, but a hidden path covered by weeds.Han Xin sent a team to cut the weeds in front with a knife, and then hooked the weeds with a halberd to facilitate the passage of the large troops behind.

Since it was a surprise attack, the Han army did not bring too much luggage, no heavy equipment, and only light weapons.In order not to delay the marching speed, Han Xin ordered all the troops accompanying the army to prepare enough dry food and water.When I was hungry, I sat on the ground to rest, took a few mouthfuls of cold dry food, and drank a few mouthfuls of clear mountain spring water.Tired from the march, he just lay on the ground in a mess, waiting for the next day.

The sun rises, and the sky is full of red clouds.Han Xin gently rubbed his sleepy eyes with his dirty hands, yawned a few times, stood up and stretched, ate something briefly, then assembled the troops, and said a few things to pay attention to during the march.

After everything was arranged properly, this army, which came from the east but started from a small town in the south, marched hard in the mountains.

Compared with Baoxie Road, which is well-equipped and in a straight line distance from Guanzhong, Chencang Road is almost a devil corridor. Race against time.The main reason why Deng Ai was able to smuggle to Yinping was that the Shu Han had no military defense here. The dangerous road Deng Ai took was only difficult in the geographical sense, and almost zero in the military sense.

There are thousands of miles of emptiness, and there are many cliffs. You can see the blue sky during the day and the stars at night, but you can't see people.Han Xin's current environment is similar to Deng Ai's. He didn't find a soldier of the Qin Army along the way, and the worst outcome that Han Xin was worried about did not appear.

When the scouts at the frontline bowed excitedly in front of the King of Han and loudly told the King of Han that "the natural danger has been exhausted, and Chencang is not far ahead", Liu Bang was overjoyed and couldn't help raising his forehead with his hands, sighing that God helped Han.Han Xin also let out a long sigh of relief. Zhang Han was indeed deceived by Fan Kui's fake engineering team, and was nailed to the crossing of the eclipse by Fan Kui, but he did not expect that the main force of the Han army had already quietly killed Chencang City...

Chencang, in the Qin Dynasty, was organized at the county level, leaning on the south of the Wei River, north of the old road, and about [-] miles away from Xianyang, the capital of Qin.Although the scale is small, Chencang is an important military town connecting Hexi, Guanzhong, and Bashu. Its strategic significance is extraordinary.

Fortunately, what Han Xin saw was that Chencang was almost an undefended city militarily, except for a small number of defending Qin troops, there were only unarmed civilians.Chencang is deep in the hinterland of Guanzhong, and is an important source of troops for the Qin State. Among the 20 Qin soldiers who were brutally murdered by Xiang Yu in Xin'an, how many came from Chencang?Should not be a minority.

This so-called siege battle was just a cutscene. When the soldiers of the Han army who rushed into the city first told the bewildered children of the Qin people about the tragedy of Xin'an and Zhang Han, these Qin soldiers threw them away. With the weapon in his hand, he squatted on the ground and cried bitterly, tears pouring down like rain.

Chen Cang almost went down without a fight.

Standing on the city wall of Chen Cang, Han Xin was in a good mood. This was the happiest day he had ever been walking around the rivers and lakes with his sword in his hand.Han Xin prides himself on being unparalleled in the country, but no one has ever been able to prove it. Now that Han Xin has proved it himself, he is unparalleled in the country!
The reason why Han Xin is so happy, of course, is not to get a small city, but to occupy the "life" land of "the land of death and life" in the art of war.why?Sun Wuzi, the sage of soldiers, said at the beginning of "Thirteen Chapters of the Art of War": "The land is far and near, dangerous and easy, wide and narrow, and life and death." Those who are prone to die, but vice versa.

From a defensive point of view, Chen Cang is a deadly place in the sense of military geography. As long as the Qin people guard Chen Cang, even if Han Xin has great abilities, he can't do anything to Chen Cang.Chencang is right on the geographical route from the Guanzhong Basin to Qinchuan Bashu. Now that the Han army has occupied Chencang, the door to the Guanzhong Basin has been completely opened.

From Nanzheng to the north along the old road, looking around, there are thousands of miles of peaks and mountains, without any human habitation, it is called "paradise".Standing at the top of Chencang City and looking eastward, there are thousands of miles of plains, no peaks and mountains, Weishui rushing, fields and canals, and houses connected together, this is the world.Just as Han Xin analyzed to Liu Bang before, the Han army was not afraid of Zhang Han, only the terrain of the Qinling Mountains.

Han Xin could imagine the expression on Yongwang Zhanghan's face when he got the news that the Han army had seized Chencang Pass.

(End of this chapter)