Competing

Chapter 471

It has been almost a month since Long Qie returned to Pengcheng. The Jiujiang Kingdom had just perished, so stabilizing the situation in Huainan was a top priority.After everything was done, the entire defense of Huainan was handed over to Huan Chu, but what he brought back was a lot of shocking news.

After listening to Long Qie report the events before and after the Jiujiang War, Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng had exactly the same expression, they didn't feel too much excitement because Long Qie destroyed Jiujiang Kingdom, on the contrary, there were many worries on their faces.

What they are worried about is an infinitely magnified flaw in the perfect victory at the end of this war.This blemish is the whereabouts of Yingbu and his family, as well as the cavalry battle that took place in the wilds of Huainan.

Long Qie reported: "Overlord, I really didn't expect Yin Xu to step in and rescue Yingbo's wife and children. I don't know what his purpose is!"

Fan Zeng smiled helplessly, and then threw a bamboo slip to Longqie. Longqie took it and looked at it, his face suddenly darkened, and he was also somewhat surprised.

Before he came back, the news of Jiangdong had been sent back to Pengcheng. Yingbo had already gone to Jiangdong, and was canonized as a general by Yue Wang Yinxu.

Holding the bamboo slips, Long Qi said in a deep voice, "I never thought that Yin Xu would do such a big job for Ying Bu himself..."

Xiang Yu said: "Many things in the Yue Kingdom were beyond our expectations. Who would have thought that Yin Xu would take Jiujiang into consideration during the Western Expedition, so you don't have to blame yourself."

Xiang Zhuang said: "The current state of Yue is not what it used to be. There is news from Linjiang state that Gong Ao and his son have been forced to surrender, which means that all the land in the south of the Yangtze River has fallen into Yin Xu's hands."

Yu Ziqi sighed: "Zhang Han, Ying Bu, Pu Jun and several strong generals, together with Li Si and Wei Liao, Yin Xu himself is also very capable in strategy and military affairs, and the strength of Yue is almost on par with ours. of."

Long Qie lowered his head and said, "This is the last general's mistake. I didn't have the slightest difference when the Yue cavalry entered Jiangbei. Otherwise, what happened to Yingbu would not have happened."

Even if the Overlord didn't blame him, Long Qi was still full of apologies and felt very sorry.Not to mention Xiang Sheng.It was originally a good opportunity to accumulate military achievements, but I didn't expect it to be so disheartened in the end.

Xiang Yu waved his hand and said: "Forget it, you want to preside over the battle in Jiujiang, how can you care about so many things? Destroying Jiujiang and stabilizing Huainan is already a great achievement."

Long Qi nodded slightly, but said nothing.

Fan Zeng turned to ask: "Long Qi, did the previous report say that the Yue cavalry was very powerful?"

He is also a little unhappy about Yingbo's affairs, but he cares more about the details reported by Long Qie and Xiang Sheng.

Long Qi nodded and said: "Yes, there are only about a thousand cavalrymen in the Yue Kingdom, and the 5000 cavalry against Xiang Sheng actually won a big victory. Our army suffered almost 2000 casualties, which is very shocking."

Mentioning this matter, Xiang Sheng involuntarily lowered his head, very ashamed.

Since the Battle of Pengcheng, everyone was proud of the Chu cavalry, and they couldn't help being a little furious when they heard such a tragic defeat.There are only two outcomes for such a fiasco, that is, Xiang Sheng concealed something in order to get rid of the crime, or the cavalry of the Yue Kingdom is really powerful to an unimaginable level.If this is the case, it is really too shocking.

Long Qi seemed to be aware of everyone's thoughts, and said: "At first I thought that Xiang Sheng had overlooked something in the dark, and what he said was not the truth, so I went to investigate it myself. I can be sure that Xiang Sheng did not lie. The cavalry of the Yue Kingdom are exceptionally powerful. The range and power of their crossbow arrows have surpassed those we use now, and their firing speed is also very fast.

According to Xiang Sheng, there seems to be something on the back and side of the horse's belly of the Yue cavalry, which can ensure the stability of the cavalry, increase the impact force, and make combat more convenient.There is also the blade of the Vietnamese army, which seems to be harder and sharper than our long swords. According to the cavalry of our army who participated in the battle, the more action used by the Vietnamese cavalry is to chop, which is different from the characteristics of the sword. .I have also inspected the wounds of the fallen soldiers, from shallow to deep, it can be seen that their weapons are curved... Not only that, they are also very good at night combat! "

After listening to Long Qie, Xiang Sheng shared his actual feelings at that time, and everyone couldn't help being a little surprised. In this way, the equipment of the Yue cavalry is very special, and the combat effectiveness is also extraordinary.In such an environment, the cavalry of Chu State could be dealt a heavy blow, which is enough to show the strength of the opponent.

Thinking of some previous rumors, Yin Xu became angry at the crown and led the cavalry to defeat Si Yao's army. It seems that the Yue cavalry is very unique.If Chu and Yue were to face each other, wouldn't it be a big disadvantage in terms of cavalry?
Xiang Zhuang asked: "Have you found out what the equipment of Yue State is?"

Long Qi shook his head lightly and said: "It was night, and our army suffered a disastrous defeat. When we were in a hurry, we didn't notice anything else."

Assassin Xiang Sheng also rushed to regret. At that time, he only remembered to run for his life as soon as possible, but he forgot such an important matter.

"If this is the case, the cavalry is so powerful, isn't it true that the Yue army is invincible?" Zhong Limei was very worried. Although he did not personally experience that station, the shock brought to them by the Yue cavalry was real.

Xiang Yu shook his head lightly and said: "Don't worry, Yin Xu's work is beyond expectations, maybe this is another new thing he invented. His cavalry is really powerful, and there are only a small number of them, and it is impossible to improve them on a large scale. The combat power of the army. The country of Yue also has its inherent disadvantages..."

"The country of Yue is short of war horses!" Fan Zeng said the crux of the problem.

Yu Ziqi responded quickly: "That's true. Otherwise, in such an emergency, why would the Vietnamese army transport the two thousand horses back to Jiangdong? It shows that they are short of horses. That is to say, the number of cavalry they have Not a lot, so don't worry too much right now."

Jiangdong is in the south, so the lack of horses is an inevitable thing.For them, this should be considered a very fortunate thing.Now the princes of all countries seem to be aware of the importance of war horses, especially the Battle of Pengcheng highlighted the mobility and great power of cavalry.I heard that Liu Bang, the king of Han, also began to organize cavalry in the Xingyang area. I didn't expect that the most powerful country among the countries was Yue.Fortunately, there is a shortage of horses in Jiangdong, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief this time, but Xiang Sheng, who had been silent all this time, felt even heavier.It was precisely because of my own mistakes that it was equivalent to sending two thousand war horses to the Yue people, so the scale of the Yue country's cavalry had to increase, and it was my own side that suffered in the end.

Fan Zeng shook his head and said: "The cavalry of the Yue Kingdom is not very large, that's true, but we can't be taken lightly because of this. Can the bows and mysterious weapons be equipped with infantry? This is just the galaxy we can see. Are there any mysterious weapons that we don’t know about? Everyone knows about Yin Xu’s novelty and extraordinaryness.”

Everyone has a deep understanding of this point. When Yin Xu was a general in the Chu army, he behaved extraordinaryly, and magical things or ideas often appeared.Now it seems that what happened back then was just the tip of the iceberg, or Yin Xu had some reservations back then.

Ji Bu asked, "Then what about this time? Is that the way to go?"

There was a bitter expression on the corners of everyone's mouths. Yin Xu dared to announce the truth, making it clear that he was not afraid of the Western Chu Kingdom.What's more, at the critical moment when something happened to send troops to fight against Han, if they fought against a powerful enemy like Yue, the situation would be very unfavorable to Western Chu.

However, the State of Yue killed more than 2000 cavalrymen of the State of Chu, and this act itself was a public slap in the face of the State of Western Chu.If this is the case, where should the face of the majestic Overlord of Western Chu be?

This was really an embarrassing question. Everyone involuntarily turned their gazes to the face of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, and then to Fan Yafu who closed his eyes and meditated.

Xiang Yu clenched his fists tightly, and his joints creaked. Do we have to swallow this matter again?There was a time when, with high spirits, no one in the world dared to plunder the tiger's whiskers.But today, it is a different situation. Now it is Liu Bang who captured Pengcheng, but he regained his face by means of thunder.

On the contrary, Yin Xu, king of Yue, first invaded and occupied the second county of Jiangdong, but Xiang Yu had no choice but to bear it.But now Yin Xu's hand has reached out to the land of Jiangbei, embarrassing the West Chu State again and again.This really made Xiang Yu a little angry, so forget it?He was a little unwilling, but what if he sent troops directly?
Liu Bang is watching covetously behind him. If he starts a war with the Yue Kingdom... across a big river, it will not be so easy to conquer the Yue Kingdom.I heard that the Yue State has recently trained a very powerful navy, but the Chu State has some shortcomings in this aspect. How can it make the Yue State's opponent?Even though the comprehensive strength of Western Chu State is stronger than that of Yue State, it is still very difficult to defeat Yue State.

They suffered a lot from fighting on two fronts. The current Yue State is much stronger than the previous Tian Rong. If the army is dragged to Jiangdong, will Liu Bang let go of such a golden opportunity?
Xiang Yu's mood was very contradictory, and he fell into a painful struggle in his heart!

Seeing Xiang Yu's embarrassment, Yu Ziqi said, "Overlord, let's handle this matter carefully. Our primary enemy now is Liu Bang!"

As Xiang Yu's eldest brother-in-law, Yu Ziqi's status and military achievements have risen rapidly, and he also understands Xiang Yu's thoughts quite well. At this time, it is even more important to help him out.Otherwise, even if Xiang Yu intends to put the overall situation first, he won't be able to lose face easily.

Fan Zeng opened his eyes, and said calmly, "Actually, Yue Guo's behavior seems to be a kind of provocation, but in fact, isn't it an act of self-protection?"

Self-defense?

Everyone couldn't help feeling a little doubt in their hearts, they hadn't understood Fan Yafu's deep meaning yet.

Fan Zeng said: "After the Battle of Linjiang, the State of Yue will definitely be exhausted, and its national power is also recovering. Of course, this recovery process is actually a process of expansion. It may not be long before the State of Yue is truly strong. strength will be shown.

Yin Xu has just eaten a large piece of land in Linjiang Kingdom, the land and population have increased greatly, and the situation will be more complicated.Therefore, for Yin Xu, the top priority is to stabilize internal affairs and consolidate his rule and vested interests in the south.External expansion is definitely not possible, and it will not have much impact on the land of Huainan in a short time.

News came from Jiangdong that Yin Xu had built Hongdu City in the northeast corner of Penglize. It was said that the capital was to be moved there just to strengthen control over the western territory. "

Everyone's thoughts moved, that is to say, the country of Yue doesn't want war now, so...

Fan Zeng said indifferently: "Maybe some people will say that we should attack the country of Yue before it has a firm foothold in the west. It would be certain in normal times, but the situation is more complicated now because we still have Liu Bang behind us." , he is our worst enemy.

What we were most worried about before was that when we attacked the Han army, the Yue Congress would stab us in the back, but what about now?For a long period of time, Yue State will concentrate on dealing with internal affairs, so after this war, there will be a period of peace.Yin Xu needs this time, and we need it too. Can we consider using it? "

Everyone understood Fan Yafu's meaning, that is, to take advantage of the peace with the Yue Kingdom to fight the Han army with all their strength.First of all, the biggest enemy of the Western Chu Kingdom is the Han army, and the conflict with the Yue Kingdom is only a small conflict within a certain range.The current situation of the Western Chu Kingdom is very bad, and it is unable to fight the two big countries at the same time.

Fan Zeng continued: "Besides us, there are two important factors that influence the outcome of the Chu-Han War. They are the princes of Hebei and the princes of the south. The south is now owned by Yin Xu alone. Han Xin now Conquering in the north again, the situation in Hebei is not very favorable for us.

If it is at this time, we will easily start a war with the Yue State and push the Yue State to the side of the Han State, it seems that the loss outweighs the gain.On the contrary, if the situation in Hebei and the Central Plains is not very favorable to us, Yin Xu will put pressure on Liu Bang from the Mianshui area.One of Yin Xu's reasons for sending troops to Linjiang is to check and balance Han, so we have an ally invisibly.Even if he is our enemy and has not allyd with us, he can somewhat play such a role. "

Xiang Sheng said: "Yafu, will this be raising tigers to cause trouble? Jiangdong is too powerful and will endanger us sooner or later."

Fan Zeng sighed softly: "That's right, but there is no other way now. Keeping this tiger is a hidden danger for us, why not for Liu Bang? Now we can't act on our emotions, we must recognize the situation clearly, and everything must be done correctly. Based on the premise of self-preservation."

Self-preservation?After Xiang Yu heard it, he felt very uncomfortable. When Yafu made any decisions, he always started from winning the world.Now it has turned into self-protection, which seems to be a rather ironic thing, but the reality is so cruel.

"Let's do it according to Yafu's consciousness!" Xiang Yu sighed secretly, this time he could only swallow his anger, and hoped that Yin Xu could stop in moderation and not touch the bottom line.

(End of this chapter)