Chapter 307: The Western Chu Army Partitions
Learning from the lessons of the failure of the last raid, Xiang Yu became much calmer after crossing the gap. Even though he had decided to fight the Guangwu camp of the Han army first, he did not give his unethical cousin the opportunity to steal, Xiang Yu did not act impulsively. He led the army to the Guangwu camp to find Xiang Kang to fight desperately. Instead, he first established a solid camp on the bank of the Honggu, ten miles downstream of Guangwu, and then he started to build various attack weapons and patiently prepare for the pre-war.
During this period, the Han army organized manpower twice, from Ao Cang to transport grain to Guangwu camp to hoarding it. Xiang Yu only sent troops to intercept and rob, and did not dispatch troops to establish a camp between Ao Cang and Guangwu camp, gritting his teeth and not giving his unethical cousin the opportunity to take advantage of loopholes.
Because Xiang Yu knew too well the character of his unethical cousin, he liked to be a slut when fighting. As long as he showed a little flaw, he might be able to seize the opportunity and get a trick. Only by being upright and not greedy for his unethical cousin’s advantage can he have no chance to take advantage of it and no holes to drill.
At the same time, Xiang Yu was also very clear that the main force of the Western Chu army was indeed stronger than the main force of the Han army in field and formation warfare. However, if the Han army fully defended the Guangwu camp with strong fortifications, he would not plan to dream of creating miracles and quickly seize the camp of the main force of the Han army. Therefore, his best way was to sharpen the knife and chop firewood, first prepare sufficient attacks, and then launch a strong attack from the front with the force of Mount Tai to suppress the shameless tricks and despicable tricks of his unethical cousin.
Xiang Yu's steady tactics also made Xiang Kang very uncomfortable. He knew very well how much pressure the Western Chu army would put on him after he was well prepared. Of course, Xiang Kang wanted the Western Chu army to attack when he was not prepared, giving him the opportunity to continue to setback the Western Chu army's spirit. However, the Western Chu army did not let him do what he wanted, and Xiang Kang could only sigh.
At this time, the situation in the battlefield of the Han army's partial division was suddenly changed. After seeing that the Western Chu army launched a large-scale attack on Sanchuan County, Zhao Xie and Zhang Er shamelessly betrayed the Han army again, and suddenly turned to the side of the Western Chu army. Zhao Xie and Zhao Prime Minister Zhang Er not only flatly refused Xiang Kang's request to send troops to pay the letter of surrender, but also ordered Zhang Yi and Chen Ze, the Zhao army who had withdrawn from Handan County, to once again break into the Han army's county, and to join forces with Xiang You and Xue Gong's unit, who had previously seized Chaoge, to prepare to launch an attack on the hinterland of the Han army's Han army.
The distance is relatively close, and the road between Xiuwu Front and Ao Cang and Guangwu is controlled by the Han army again. Xiang Kang of course knew about this situation earlier than Xiang Yu. Xiang Kang, who was mentally prepared in advance, was not in a hurry. He just asked a question, "Have you sent the beauty that the Hanoi County Magistrate Bao Kua gave to my brother?"
"Report to the King of Han, it has been sent." Chen Ping replied: "Bao County Magistrate Bao used the excuse of begging Xiang You to treat the people of Hanoi County well and secretly sent two beauties and a sum of money to Xiang You. Although Xiang You did not give any reply, he did not return the beauties and money sent by the county Magistrate Bao, and he also detained the envoy of the county Magistrate Bao in his army. If the ministers expected it was not bad, Xiang You should be skeptical about the county Magistrate Bao's words and planned to take advantage first."
"Sure enough, it hasn't changed at all." Xiang Kang snorted coldly, and then thought for a moment, saying: "The Zhao traitor army shamelessly turned against each other. Xiang You will definitely take action soon and send our combat plan to Long Qi and Zhu Jishi, so that they can act according to the plan, first destroy the partial divisions of the Western Chu traitor army, relieve the pressure on our northern line, and then let our partial divisions free up their hands to help the main force."
…………
As Xiang Kang expected, after joining the capricious Zhao army, Xiang You quickly reached an agreement with Zhang Han and Chen Ze, who commanded the Zhao army, which was to jointly launch an attack on the large and small Xiuwu established by Zhu Jishi's troops in the Han army, and put pressure on the Han army's partial division with superior forces, so that the Han army's partial division could not withdraw from the south to reinforce the main force.
The dog couldn't change the Chi Xiang. After making this idea, Xiang You, who had the intention of not taking advantage of it, perfectly inherited the temper and character of Master Xiang Bo, Xiang You, immediately proposed to let the Zhao army be responsible for restraining Zhu Jishi, who was stationed in the Overseas Xiuwu, and let the Western Chu army be responsible for restraining the weak Xiaoxiuwu defenders. Unfortunately, Zhang Gu and Chen Ze were not fools, and immediately made the excuse that the Zhao army was not as good as the Western Chu army, so they must in turn let the Zhao army be responsible for dealing with the Han army's Xiaoxiuwu defenders.
Of course, Xiang You did not want to suffer losses, and he continued to talk to Zhang Gu and Chen Ze, saying that in addition to dealing with Zhu Jishi, the Western Chu army had to be distracted and wary of Long Qi stationed in Wude. The Zhao army should share some pressure for the Western Chu army. Zhang Gu and Chen Ze argued with reason, saying that the Zhao army should also be guarded against Long Qi's threat, insisting that the Western Chu army, which had stronger combat effectiveness, shoulder more burdens, and fight with Xiang You and I would have a lot of fun.
Finally, Old Man Fan recommended Xiang You's deputy Xue Gong, who was recommended by Old Man Fan, could not stand it, so he stood up to Zhang Gu. Chen Ze helped, saying that since the Western Chu army was the main force in attacking Han, he should carry more burdens and be responsible for dealing with the Han army guards who overhauled Wu. Xiang You had no choice but to reluctantly agree to Zhang Gu and Chen Ze's request. However, after Zhang Gu and Chen Ze left, Xiang You immediately complained to Xue Gong: "General Xue, why are you so stupid? The Han thieves have 12,000 defenders in overhauling Wu, and only 6,000 defenders in minor martial arts. Why do you want us to give up the easy and take difficult things and try to chew tough things in overhauling Wu?"
"General, isn't this time to care about this now?" Xue Gong asked back angrily, and said, "The order given to us by the king is to restrain the partial troops of the Han thieves, so that they can't free up their hands to reinforce the main force of the Han thieves. The Zhao thieves' army is capricious, and when they arrive at the battlefield of Xiuwu, they will definitely not work hard. They will be stationed in Wude. If they see that Xiuwu is not under pressure, they will suddenly cross the river to reinforce Sanchuan. How can we explain to the king?"
Xiang You didn't dare to let his cousin lose his temper, so he could only sigh and said, "It's too late to say anything now. Go down and prepare to send troops. Let's set off south tomorrow and advance to the big and small martial arts."
Xue Gong sang Nuo and said vigilantly: "General, the two beauties given to you by the Hanoi County Magistrate, you'd better keep them in Chaoge. We go south to practice martial arts and may start a war with the Han thief army at any time. If we bring women by our side, we may miss our major events."
"The general doesn't have to worry about this matter, I have my own arrangements."
Xiang You answered in an ambiguous manner, but when he set out to go south the next day, what made Xue Gong angry was that Xiang You not only brought the two beauties that the Hanoi County Magistrate Bao Kuo quietly gave to him by his side, but also selected ten pretty women from Chaoge City to bring them into the army, asking them to serve their daily life. Xue Gong objected, and Xiang You said with confidence: "What's the matter? My brother, King Xi Chu, was in the military camp, and he had beautiful women to serve his side at any time, so what happened?"
He could not resist Xiang You, but Xiang You's deputy, had to swallow his anger and shut up his mouth, honestly assisting Xiang You in leading the troops south. It took only three days to advance to the Xiuwu area of the big and small areas. As a result, Xiang You and Xue Gong were quite surprised that when they saw the Western Chu army and the Zhao army coming together, with a force of more than 60,000, Zhu Jishi actually dared to lead 8,000 troops out of the camp and take the initiative to fight. Xiang You and Xue Gong hurriedly led their troops to fight, and at the same time, they were anxious to Zhang Gu and Chen Ze who were walking behind, and asked them to come quickly to help.
There was not much suspense in the battle. The Han army only relied on the advantage of waiting for labor to gain some advantage at the beginning of the war, and once suppressed the Western Chu army so that it could only form a formation to defend. However, as the Western Chu army gradually recovered, the balance of the battlefield quickly tilted towards the Western Chu army. When the Zhao army came to reinforce, Zhu Jishi could only hurriedly lead the army to retreat. The Zhao and Chu army took advantage of the situation to cover up and achieved a victory, driving the Han army that dared to go out to fight back to the camp to defend.
Before the matter was over, when the Western Chu army began to establish a camp, the Western Chu officials who were responsible for interrogating the prisoners came to the tent and reported to Xiang You that it was the Han prisoners captured by the soldiers of the Western Chu army that Zhu Jishi led his army to fight because Zhu Jishi asked Long Qi to send troops north and joined hands with the Zhao-Chu coalition forces to launch a decisive battle. Long Qi refused, so Zhu Jishi took the risk of fighting in anger. Xiang You and Xue Gong were both overjoyed and hurriedly asked: "Are you sure? What's the specific situation?"
"It's certain." The Xichu official who was in charge of interrogating the prisoners replied truthfully: "We caught more than 30 Han thieves and prisoners together, saying that Zhu Jishi explained the situation to them before setting off, and asked the Han thieves to fight a victory for him, so that Long You knows that he is the right one."
"Okay, there is a discord within the thief army, we have a chance." Xiang You rubbed his hands excitedly, and suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly said: "I almost forgot that when I set off, my brother told me to use the relationship between A brother and Long Ju to try to persuade Long Ju to change his banner and surrender. This matter cannot be delayed anymore. The cultivation of martial arts is not far from Wude. I will send someone to contact Long Ju immediately to see what his attitude is."
This matter was indeed Xiang Yu's explanation. Of course, Mr. Xue did not dare to object. Xiang You immediately picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Long Qi. He used the old relationship between his brothers Xiang Sui and Long Qi to persuade Long Qi to surrender. He also promised a reward for Long Qi's official position on behalf of Xiang Yu. On the same day, he sent someone to carry a letter and a generous gift to Wude and secretly contact Long Qi. However, Xiang You never dreamed that when his handwritten letter was delivered to Long Qi, Long Qi actually laughed loudly and said with a crazy laugh: "There is such a coincidence in the world?!"
After laughing, Long Qi discussed with several confidants and decisively accepted the generous gift that Xiang You gave to him for Xiang Yu, and asked Xiang You's messenger to bring back the message, saying that he had never forgotten Xiang Sui's kindness to him back, but Xiang Kang was also very good to him and couldn't bear to betray him, so he prepared a return gift for the messenger to take it back to Xiang You. Then, naturally, after learning Long Qi's reply, Xiang You was really excited and clapped his hands and smiled: "There is a way to do this, and Long Qi's common man may be fought over by us."
…………
On the same day when Xiang You received Long Qi's reply, after sufficient preparation, Xiang Yu finally led the main force of the Western Chu army to launch a fierce pass towards the Guangwu Camp where the main force of the Han army was. As a result, although the main attack direction chosen by Xiang Yu made Xiang Kang happy, the battle was still extremely fierce. In the end, after paying a considerable price, the Western Chu army filled the protective trench excavated by the Han army and opened the road that could directly advance to the bottom of the Han army camp.
It was still on the same day that the 20,000 Guanzhong rear army led by the old man Fu Kuan and Gong Yang, also arrived at the foot of Henan County. However, the Han army recruited by Zhou Zeng and Chao Zhi in Guanzhong did not continue to advance eastward, but rushed directly to the Aocang battlefield to reinforce the main force of the Han army. Instead, he chose to go north to cross the river to Pingyin and secretly entered the territory of Hanoi County...
The next morning, the real test of the main force of the Han army came. The main force of the Western Chu army, which opened the road to advance, took turns to attack the Han army camp from morning to night, and successfully rushed to the walls of the Han army camp many times, threatening the safety of the main force of the Han army camp. Fortunately, the main force of the Han army was sufficient, and the reserve team was dispatched in time to rescue the emergency. Relying on the fierce battles, they still defended the main force camp and did not allow the Western Chu army to succeed in the attack.
The third day was still the same. The Western Chu army still attacked the main camp of the Han army. Xiang Yu and Xiang Kang, the cousins of Xiang Yu and Xiang Kang, also came to the front line to command and supervise the battle. They led the soldiers of the Chu and Han army to fight bloody battles, fighting to the darkness and the sun and the moon were gone. In the critical moment in the afternoon, when the Chu army soldiers were able to rush directly to the Han army camp with their bodies, Xiang Kang was forced to dispatch Han army heavy armored troops to the camp to counterattack. Finally, they retreated from the fierce attack of the Chu army and stabilized their positions again. In the end, both sides suffered a crushing defeat, and both sides suffered a defeat and ended with a draw.
On the third night, the Han army stationed in Xiao Xiuwu was very brave. When the troops were at an absolute disadvantage, they actually took the risk of dispatching their main force to attack the camp of Zhao's army. The sentry of the Zhao army discovered the Han army's intention in time and immediately issued an alarm. The Zhao army dispatched all their might and attacked the counterattack. The Xiao Xiuwu army was defeated and left, and was forced to give up Xiao Xiuwu's city and fled to Wude overnight to meet with the Han army Long Qi's troops. The Zhao army took advantage of the situation to take down Xiao Xiuwu and seized a lot of food and grass military supplies. The main force of the Han army Zhujishi's troops stationed in the Overview of Wu was also in danger of being isolated.
On the fourth day, the main force of the Western Chu army continued to attack the main camp of the Han army. At the same time, on the battlefield of the overhaul martial arts, the Western Chu army also captured two messengers sent by Zhu Jishi to ask for help from Long Qi. When Xiang You heard the news, he increased his confidence and immediately asked the Zhao army to come and help him, intending to take down the overhaul martial arts through the strong attack. At the same time, he sent a secret envoy south to contact Long Qi and continue to persuade Long Qi to surrender.
On that day, the main force of the Western Chu army continued to attack until the second update. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking the camp, she had no choice but to withdraw the troops. Because of the heavy casualties, Xiang Yu had no choice but to regret that he did not choose to fight the Ao Cang camp where the Han army was first, and also had to hope to put it on the battlefield of the partial division in Hanoi, and said intimately: "Xiang You, Mr. Xue, even if you cannot destroy the partial division in Han thieves, you must entangle them for me. You must not give them the opportunity to cross Henan to reinforce the main forces of the Han thieves, otherwise, the battle on Sanchuan would only be more difficult to fight."
On the same day, the troops of Zhu Jishi of the Han army suddenly gave up the overhaul of martial arts and retreated to Wude and met with Long Qi overnight. Xiang You immediately launched a pursuit after hearing the news and gained some results. At the same time, he successfully won the overhaul of martial arts and seized a lot of military supplies.
The continuous victory made Xiang You's mind start to flutter. The day after he won the overthrow of the Martial Arts Queen, he couldn't wait to discuss with the Zhao army to advance to Wude. As a result, Zhang Han and Chen Ze were also confused by the good situation in front of him and agreed without thinking. The Zhao and Chu army also set out south at noon that day, excitedly rushed towards Wude.
God did not care about General Xiang You. On the same night, the messenger of the Western Chu army who had secretly contacted Long Qi brought back good news, saying that Long Qi had agreed to surrender to the Western Chu army, but Long Qi was worried that the generals would not accept it, and that Zhu Jishi would make trouble. He had to wait until the two armies confronted each other before Long Qi could start working with the Western Chu army to cooperate with the Western Chu army and offer the Han army's military moral camp to the Western Chu army.
Long Qi's reply made Xiang You ecstatic. In order to surprise everyone and to take over the extraordinary achievements, Xiang You not only concealed this matter from the Zhao army, but also did not even inform the facts of the deputy Xue Gong, whom Xiang Yu sent to him. Early the next morning, he urged the army to speed up the southward and prepared to arrive at Wude and Long Qi to cooperate with each other and annihilate the Han army's partial division in one fell swoop.
Mr. Xue did make General Xiang You hate him. Seeing that Xiang You ignored him, he just urged the Western Chu army and Zhao army to speed up the southward movement. He actually advised: "General, be cautious. The enemy situation of Wude is not clear. If we kill directly like this, we may be too dangerous. It is best to move carefully and send more scouts to explore the surrounding situation so that we can prevent it."
"General Xue, remember you are not so timid?" Xiang You's voice was full of mockery, and he said, "How do you need to explore the enemy situation of Wude? We have already figured out our detailed work. Wude only has the Han thief Long and his troops are less than 20,000 troops, our troops are as high as 30,000, and there are 30,000 Zhao troops behind him. Is it too scary for the Han thief?"
"General, be careful." Xue Gong advised: "Our detailed work is an enemy situation report with Wude, but that was the enemy situation investigation a few days ago. We don't know whether there have been any changes in Wude and Han thieves recently. Also, the Zhao army is not reliable at all. They will definitely move forward when fighting with the wind. However, in an adversity, they will definitely escape faster than anyone else. Besides, it is still early. Even if we move south at a normal speed, we can easily arrive at Wude in the afternoon. There is no need to waste the strength of the soldiers and go south at a fast march."
Xiang You, who was full of confidence, did not listen at all and insisted on urging the army to continue moving forward. Mr. Xue had no choice but to let him go. However, the Zhao army behind him did not need to obey Xiang You's orders. In addition to refusing to launch an urgent march on the grounds that there were many military supplies and supplies, and following the Western Chu army far away, Zhang and Chen Ze also laughed behind their backs: "I'm in a hurry to grab the filial piety hat? There is no one urging me, why are you doing so urgent?"
According to Xiang You's request, at noon, the Western Chu army, which had been traveling all the way, finally arrived at the outskirts of Wude City. However, before the soldiers of the Western Chu army took a breath and Xiang You, Xue Gong found a suitable camp location. With the sound of the horn, the Han army Long Qi and Zhu Jishi had already left the camp in a row, quickly completed the assembly, and took great strides towards the Western Chu army. Xiang You was stunned and said, "The Han thieves are very brave. They dare to send troops to fight us?"
"General, our army is exhausted." Mr. Xue said quickly: "Hurry up and set up a formation to meet the enemy. When the Zhao army arrives, we will launch a counterattack."
Xiang You nodded and immediately ordered the Chu army to form a formation to meet the enemy. However, before he finished speaking, there was a noise in the Chu army. At the same time, Xiang You's personal soldiers also pointed to the west and shouted: "General Xiang, General Xue, look, another thief army is coming!"
Xiang You and Mr. Xue turned their heads quickly together, and then immediately saw that behind the hills and woods on the west side, countless Han soldiers were rushing out continuously and lined up to the location where the Western Chu army was. And behind the huge number of Han infantry, countless Han cavalry appeared!
"Where is the Han thief?" Xiang You screamed in dismay, "Our detailed work has been clearly explored. There are only less than 20,000 Han thief troops on Wude's side. How could so many suddenly appear again? There are so many cavalry?"
Chapter completed!