God of War through the ages: Han Xin

Chapter 32 Counterattack Xiang Yu
Xiang Yu sent troops to capture Zhao. This is the record in "Historical Records Huaiyin Marquis Biography", but there is only a short sentence: "Chu Shu sent strange soldiers to cross the river to attack Zhao. Zhao Wanger and Han Xin went to rescue Zhao. Han." However, in the biographies of relevant figures in "Historical Records", there is no record related to this matter.Combined with the historical materials of Xiang Yu's attack on Jiujiang Wang Yingbu, who was backed by Chu and Han, it should be a small group of troops, not the main force of the Chu army.

Yingbo's sudden betrayal of Xiang Yu was a major victory for Liu Bang on the diplomatic front against Chu.

Xiang Yu was cruel and heartless, pitted Qin and Tu Qi, and killed Emperor Yi, which had created a huge rift in the Chu Alliance and made everyone feel insecure.Xiang Yu attacked Tian Rong in Qi State and sent people to Jiujiang to transfer troops. Yingbo reluctantly sent thousands of old and weak soldiers to meet the errands. Later, Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang in Pengcheng, and Yingbo did not participate.

Xiang Yu was furious, and sent someone to scold Yingbo for being unethical, and ordered Yingbo to go to Pengcheng to discuss matters.How dare Yingbo go to Xiang Yu's territory to die?I can't refuse.If Han and Qi hadn't put too much military pressure on Xiang Yu on the northern front, Xiang Yu would have sent troops south to ask Yingbo for an explanation.

The relationship between the two was almost broken, but Liu Bang discovered a big gold mine. If Liu Bang can win Yingbo over, he can contain the Chu army on the southern line, thereby reducing the pressure on the Han army.Liu Bang sent a visitor to Suihe with twenty entourages to go south to Shouchun, lobbying Yingbu to return Chu to Han.

Starting from the breakdown of the relationship between Yingbo and Xiang Yu, he persuaded Yingbo to jump off Xiang Yu's broken ship as soon as possible, and follow the King of Han to seek another fortune.Suihe even provoked Yingbu: "The king and the king of Chu are both vassals, but how can they treat them with courtesy, and be called by Chu to be their servants, laughing for the world."

Sui He is a new generation of famous talkers born during the Qin and Han Dynasties, his eloquence is more than enough to deal with the clumsy Yingbu.Suihe continued to deceive Yingbu: "The king refused to return Chu to Han, because he was afraid of Chu's strength and thought that Han was weak. Although Chu was strong, he was in Xingyang. He could not fight with Han when he advanced, and he was afraid of losing his roots when he retreated. He was concerned about gains and losses. Han Wang accepted The feudal lords guard Henan, connect Qin and Shu in the west, and connect Wei and Zhao in the north. The trend of Qin Zhaoxiang swallowing the world has been reproduced. If the world advances, it must be the Han. The king of Han is known for benevolence and righteousness. If the king returns to Han, the king of Han will be sealed with cracked earth Your Majesty, share wealth and honor."

Yingbo was almost moved by Sui He's words, but he still hesitated.Sui He was ruthless enough, and he cursed Xiang Yu in front of Chu's conscripts, saying that the King of Jiujiang had returned to Han.Yingbo was cornered by Suihe, but in desperation, he had no choice but to kill the envoy of Chu and raised his flag against Chu.

Yingbo's betrayal made Xiang Yu furious.He immediately sent his direct descendant Tiger General Long Qie and Xiang Sheng to send an army south, and he must make Yingbo pay for his wrongdoing!

The strategic focus of the Chu army has always been on the west and north sides. Now that there is an extra southern battlefield out of thin air, the Chu army is forced to fight on multiple fronts. This should be the situation Liu Bang expected.The total number of the Chu army was limited, and Xiang Yu didn't have that much wealth, so the Chu army sent northward to attack Zhao was only a small group of troops, which did not pose much threat to the battlefield of Zhao State where Han Xin was located.Han Xin quickly calmed down these few votes of stragglers, and Zhao Guo quickly settled down.

According to Han Xin's original development plan, after the destruction of Zhao, Yan State has also surrendered, and Han Xin will launch an attack on Qi State.But Liu Bang, who was in Xingyang, ordered Han Xin to quickly transfer the elite troops of the Han army in Zhao to the front line of Xingyang, because Xiang Yu's halberd tip had pierced Liu Bang's nose, and Liu Bang urgently needed Han Xin's army for help.As for Han Xin's plan to attack Qi, Liu Bang can no longer control it.

Han Xin was very depressed, the King of Han was always like this, every time he trained a team of elite soldiers, he would be transferred away by Liu Bang with various excuses.But Han Xin didn't think too much about it. Now Liu Bang would never dare to have any malicious intentions towards Han Xin, but Liu Bang likes to eat ready-made food, and the soldiers trained by Han Xin are of course very useful.

Liu Bang originally thought that Yingbo's rebellion against Chu would attract the main force of the Chu army to go south, and the two sides would fight endlessly.In the end, Liu Bang was greatly disappointed. In the face of the fierce attack of the Chu army, Yingbo's army was completely vulnerable.

In just a few months, the entire Jiujiang army was wiped out, and Jiujiang was completely occupied by the Chu army.In the case of Yingbo's back to Chu and Han, Pengcheng where Xiang Yu was located and Jiangdong, his strategic base, were cut off by Jiujiang State, which was an unacceptable result for Xiang Yu.Therefore, even if the western and northern routes are temporarily abandoned, Xiang Yu will regain the strategic passage between Pengcheng and Jiangdong.

Although Yingbo was beaten into a bachelor, he is a fierce general after all. Another point is that although Yingbo was defeated by Longqie, there are still many old troops in Yingbo. Liu Bang's troops are also limited, so he cannot give Yingbo too many troops .

Liu Bang sent people to Jiujiang State to contact the former Yingbu Ministry. After a short time, thousands of people returned to the Han Dynasty.On the basis of this number, Liu Bang added some troops, and transferred Yingbu to guard Chenggao (now Shangjie District, Zhengzhou), because Xiang Yu was about to launch an attack on Xingyang.

The shadow of Pengcheng's disastrous defeat lingers in Liu Bang's heart. This time the Chu army is preparing to march westward, and Liu Bang obviously feels the pressure of survival.Liu Bang knew that he was not Xiang Yu's opponent in the military. Only Han Xin could hold Xiang Yu's teeth and claws, but Liu Bang did not deny Han Xin's plan to attack Qi, so he could not transfer Han Xin himself to the south, but he could only mobilize Han Xin's elite soldiers.

Liu Bang's transfer of Zhao soldiers to the south was very timely this time. Not long after Zhao Bing arrived in Xingyang, Liu Bang had already obtained accurate military information: a large number of Chu troops moved westward, and the target was Xingyang!After Xiang Yu defeated Yingbo's Jiujiang State, he quickly shifted his strategic focus and continued to maintain military pressure on Liu Bang in Xingyang.

Liu Bang continued to increase his troops on the western front, which also made Xiang Yu feel the pressure of survival.Xiang Yu finally realized that Liu Bang was the only one who could conquer the world with Chu.

There is no medicine for regret in the world. What Xiang Yu can do now is to concentrate on fighting the Han and try to eliminate Liu Bang. At least Liu Bang can't cross Xingyang and go east, otherwise Chu will be gone.Xiang Yu must do everything personally in the military, and whenever there is a big battle, he must go out in person.This time, Xiang Yu appeared again in the camp of the Chu army to the east of Xingyang, along with his younger brother Fan Zeng.

The Pengcheng victory at the beginning gave Xiang Yu an absolute psychological advantage in the confrontation with Liu Bang. Xiang Yu believed that Liu Bang was doomed this time, and he would not give Liu Bang any chance to come back.The heroic Overlord came to the front, and the morale of the Chu army was greatly boosted. The soldiers shouted Long Live the Overlord, and Xiang Yu signaled with a smile.Not far from the opposite side, Liu Bang had already seen all this, and his face sank like water.

The Chu army did not immediately launch a general attack on the Han army, but sent several elite troops to the north of Xingyang City to attack the Han army's grain transportation corridor between Xingyang and Aocang.This should be Fan Zeng's strategy, "There is no better way to plan poison than to cut off food." As long as the Han army's food channels can be cut off, it can disturb the Han army's morale and force Liu Bang to go out of the city to fight a decisive battle.With the advantage that the Chu army is good at fighting positional warfare, as long as the Han army dares to leave the city, Liu Bang will die.

The Chu army was not short of food. Their combat mission was not to grab food, but to make the Han army unable to eat food.This move was too ruthless. Although the ten-mile-long grain transportation tunnel was completely destroyed by the Chu army, the Chu army often lurked and fought guerrillas. The grain from Ao Cang could not be transported to Xingyang smoothly, and the Han army suddenly fell into a terrible food crisis. crisis.

Liu Bang scolded Fan Zeng by jumping up and down in the camp. How long can the army support without food?Once the army is defeated, will I still have a way out?Li Shiqi, the "Minister of Foreign Affairs" of the Han Dynasty, gave the King of Han an idea.Mr. Li didn't know if he was drunk, but he suggested that Liu Bang divide the six royal families, saying that this move would allow the six countries to be close to the Han, and the people love the king's benevolence and would like to fight to the death for the Han and Western Chu.

At this time, the Han State had already acquired the lands of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Yan, and Han, and only Chu and Qi stood on their own. Li Shiqi meant to let these princes be independent from the control of the Han State, and use them to check and balance the Chu State.Now that the fire is imminent, Li Shiqi's enfeoffment strategy will not help solve the immediate siege of Chu, it is all a lie.Liu Bang actually believed Li Shiqi's nonsense, and planned to engrave the seals of the six countries, and asked Li Shiqi to go to various countries as an envoy to the Han League.

Fortunately, Zhang Liang's timely appearance stopped Li Shiqi's absurd diplomatic strategy.Zhang Liang put forward seven reasons for objection, but the seventh reason awakened the dreamer in one sentence. Zhang Liang told Liu Bang: "Your Majesty establishes clans of the six countries, and they must belong to the people of the six countries, so that they will serve the old masters. So Then, who will the Han use? Furthermore, how dare Your Majesty conclude that these six kingdoms will definitely submit to the Han? What if they surrender to Chu? Has Your Majesty forgotten the lesson of Wei Bao’s capriciousness?”

After Liu Bang heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, Zhang Liang said so, otherwise the big thing would be over.Liu Bang scolded Li Shiqi angrily: "This sour scholar has ruined my great affairs!" Liu Bang urgently ordered to destroy the engraved seals of the Six Kingdoms, completely rejecting Li Shiqi's plan of self-destruction.

Li Shiqi went to drink in depression, but in front of Liu Bang was still an unmanageable mess.The Chu army's offensive became more and more fierce, and the Han army was short of food, and their morale was unstable.Liu Bang turned around in a hurry.

Chen Ping, the lieutenant of the guard who had been silent beside Liu Bang for a long time, suddenly stood in front of Liu Bang, and said with a smile that as long as the king can trust me, I have a plan to make Xiang Yu get rid of Zhong Limei, Long Qi and other loyal ministers of Chu.Liu Bang was overjoyed, and hurriedly grabbed Chen Ping's sleeve, and asked, "Mr. has a plan to break through the Chu, and I am willing to follow it."

Chen Ping's strategy does not have too complicated tactics, and it can be highly summarized in two words: "Fight!"

Chen Ping used to work beside Xiang Yu, and he knew Xiang Yu's weakness of human nature like the back of his hand. Based on Xiang Yu's weakness, he formulated a set of careful counter-intrigue plans.First of all, Xiang Yu is narrow-minded and distrusts everyone, including Fan Zeng and others. Chen Ping asked Liu Bang to allocate [-] catties of gold to him, and the minister had his own plan to break through.

Liu Bang was really open-minded. Knowing that Chen Ping was greedy for money, he still happily took out [-] catties of gold for Chen Ping's use.Forty thousand catties of gold is not a small amount, if Chen Ping is greedy for his own, wouldn't Liu Bang be taken advantage of?Liu Bang believed in Chen Ping, and he did not doubt the employment, nor did the suspect use it. After allocating the gold to Chen Ping, he did not ask Chen Ping how to pay the bill, and he could use it as he wanted.

Chen Ping is indeed greedy and lustful. Faced with a huge wealth of [-] catties of gold, there must be some things for Chen Ping to get some kickbacks from it, but Chen Ping knows the seriousness, and he will not joke about his political life.Chen Ping paid a lot of money to buy many spies, and then sent these spies to sneak into the Chu army and wag their tongues everywhere.Chen Ping asked them to "cry out the injustice" for Zhong Limei and other famous generals in the Chu army, saying that Zhong Limei and others were born and died as overlords, and they died in hundreds of battles, but they couldn't break the ground and become kings. Who would be convinced!
Now that Xiang Yu heard that Zhong Liwei and others were dissatisfied because they were not crowned king, he was really furious. You dare to threaten me since I have never treated you badly.Xiang Yu is stingy and mean by nature, he hates people asking him what he wants this and that, when Zhong Liwei stretches out his hand to become king, Xiang Yu's attitude towards them also cools down.

Liu Bang's [-] jin of gold is worth it!Zhong Limei, Long Qi and others are Xiang Yu's confidantes, and they alienate this group of fierce generals who frighten Liu Bang the most, and it will be much easier to deal with Xiang Yu in the future.However, compared with Zhongliwei and Longqi, the counselor Fan Zeng is a greater threat to Liu Bang. If the old Fan Zeng is not eliminated, the King of Han will not be reconciled.

In the summer and April of the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), the Chu army was in a hurry to besiege Xingyang. Because the grain road from Xingyang to Aocang, which the Han army relied on for survival, was completely destroyed by the Chu army, the Han army was short of food, and the soldiers were almost hungry. Holding on to my stomach.Liu Bang couldn't fight any longer, and he needed a period of time to recover. Liu Bang tentatively sent a signal to Xiang Yu for peace, on the condition that Han cut off the east of Xingyang and give it to Chu. .

Fan Zeng saw through Liu Bang's strategy of slowing down the army at a glance. The Han Dynasty cut off the east of Xingyang?The east of Xingyang is under the control of Chu State!Now that the Chu army is attacking fiercely, Liu Bang obviously can't support it anymore. As long as the Chu army persists, Liu Bang will be awarded the leadership. What's the deal!Fan Zeng advised Xiang Yu not to fall into Liu Bang's trap, but to attack him with all his strength, so that he could go to Xingyang overnight.

Xiang Yu always committed a woman's benevolence at critical moments. He sympathized with Liu Bang and was tired of the war, so he sent envoys to the Han camp to discuss peace with Liu Bang.When Liu Bang heard that Fan Zeng advised Xiang Yu to attack the Han, he was so angry that he jumped up and scolded Fan Zeng: "It's a thief to be old and not die!" Watching Chen Ping laugh out loud!

Chen Ping's strategy is actually very simple: when the envoy of Chu State came to Xingyang, Liu Bang wanted to invite the envoy of Chu to dinner, and the State of Han treated him with a large prison, which is the most solemn etiquette for receiving an envoy.However, when the envoy Chu picked up a piece of fat with his chopsticks and was about to eat it, Chen Ping suddenly had the large prison implements removed, and the fat around the envoy Chu's mouth was also taken away, and he replaced it with a tool made of weeds (i.e. The cheapest meal), Chu envoy was furious seeing the fat removed.

Chen Ping smiled indifferently: "I'm sorry, I made a mistake, so you are not Yafu's envoy, Han has its own rules, the king of Chu envoys eat the next food, and Yafu envoys the food on the top, so I have to wrong you It's done." After finishing speaking, Chen Ping paid the bill.The envoy of Chu was humiliated and left in a huff.

Returning to Chuying, seeing that Fan Zeng was not there, the envoy of Chu reported the situation of the envoy to Han with embellishment, and asked Xiang Yu to be careful of Yafu. This old guy was probably an undercover agent sent by Liu Bang to lurk beside the King of Chu.Xiang Yu was already suspicious, and he had long been dissatisfied with Fan Zeng's repeated opposition to his opinions. Although Xiang Yu was not yet serious about Fan Zeng, his face was neither cold nor cold.

Not long after, Fan Zeng once again asked Xiang Yu to send troops to attack the Han camp. The Han had no food, and this battle must be won, but Xiang Yu coldly refused. He no longer believed in Fan Zeng.Fan Zeng asked himself to send troops to attack Han. It is very likely that Liu Bang laid an ambush in advance and let himself get into his pocket.

Fan Zeng originally thought that Xiang Yu was stubborn, but he vaguely heard that Xiang Yu suspected that he was an undercover agent of the Han army, and he was so angry that he burst into tears and trembled all over.He worked so hard for Xiang's uncle and nephew, and ended up like this, Fan Zeng's heart was completely chilled.Since Xiang Yu doesn't trust him anymore, why stay here!
Fan Zeng bid farewell to Xiang Yu in a rage: "The Overlord thinks that Liu Bang can be sacked, and I can do it myself. I am old and can't bear to be a king. May the Overlord remember my loyalty and give me back this old bone to bury in the loess." Before Xiang Yu pretended to stay, Fan Zeng had already left in tears.

An ox cart creaked and ran on the ancient Huangchen road. A grey-white old man was leaning on the railing with a glass of stale wine and tears in his eyes. The ancient songs of Chu State echoed in the empty mountains.Because Fan Zeng had a malignant tumor on his back, he was not treated in time, and because he was suspected by Xiang Yu for no reason this time, he felt very sad, and before he arrived in Pengcheng, he "died from gangrene on his back".

When the news of Fan Zeng's death reached Xingyang, Xiang Yu was silent, and Liu Bang clapped his hands and laughed.

(End of this chapter)