After suddenly seeing a huge counterweight trencher appearing on the north bank of the Ji River, Huan Chu, the current Grand Marshal of the Western Chu Army, immediately realized that the Ji River defense line that he once had high hopes was the widow's only son who died - there was no hope at all.

Before this, Huan Chu had great expectations for the Jishui defense line. Even if he could not defend this natural defense line for a long time, it would be no problem to defend it for more than ten days. Then he would learn from the lessons learned from the Battle of Puyang and make his soldiers mentally prepare for the huge rocks and incendiary bombs thrown by the Han army. In addition, the time required for the Han army to prepare for the siege of the city, it would be hopeless for one month to defend the more solid city defense.

So before the main force of the Western Chu army left the Dingtao battlefield, Huan Chu couldn't wait to start the river defense deployment, and built fortifications in several river sections around the surrounding area that were suitable for rushing to cross the river early, establishing camps and connecting with each other to reinforce each other. At the same time, a beacon tower was established at every distance on the south bank of the Jishui River, closely monitoring the every move of the Han army on the other side, and always preventing the Han army from launching smuggling, and spending great efforts to guard this river defense line that can buy valuable time for him.

The scarce ships of the Han army also made Huan Chu feel at ease. Although the Han soldiers had already rushed to the upstream and downstream of Dingtao before the main force of the Western Chu army left Dingtao, because the Western Chu army had confiscated all the ships on the Jishui River early, and the upstream Wanqu, Jiyang and other places were temporarily controlled by the local troops of the Western Chu army. So until the fifth evening after the main force of the Western Chu army left Dingtao, the Han army only collected more than 60 civilian ships of different sizes, which could carry more than 800 soldiers across the river at one time, but still did not have enough carrying capacity to initiate ferries.

Huan Chu was also secretly happy because of this, and believed that Xiang Kang's usual cautious character in using troops would inevitably take time to prepare the boat and raft before he could initiate a rush to rush to rush.

However, what Huan Chu never dreamed was that just morning of the sixth day, the main force of the Han army's middle route, under the leadership of Xiang Kang, took a big move and rushed to the downstream of Dingtao with great momentum, which was most suitable for crossing the river and building a floating bridge. It was also the Dingtao Wharf ferry that the Western Chu army attached the most. It also laid a total of fifty counterweight catapults that had repeatedly woken up Huan Chu from his nightmare on the south bank of the Ji River, aiming at the defensive fortifications built by the Western Chu army on the south bank of the Ji River.

Seeing this scene, most of the soldiers of the Western Chu army were not too surprised. On the contrary, they discussed the purpose of the Han army doing this. Huan Chu himself and some of the Western Chu army soldiers who had participated in the Puyang War were ashamed and immediately understood that the Han army wanted to smash their fortifications with big stones, and also smashed the Western Chu army troops who were preparing to defend the beachhead positions, cover the Han army commando team to cross the river, occupy the beachhead positions and build a floating bridge.

Dingtao is located in the middle of the Ji River. There is no water supply to the Wen River, He River, and other small rivers. The width of the river surface in the middle of the Ji River is only more than 30 Qinzhang. The huge rocks smashed by the Han army's trencher can easily cross the river surface and cover the entire beachhead position. There is also the fortification defense line that the Western Chu army had worked hard to build before. With such a powerful firepower cover, the Han army could easily succeed even with more than 60 civilian ships, occupy the ferry and build a floating bridge, allowing subsequent reinforcements to cross the river and participate in the battle.

The facts proved that this was true. When fifty Han army catapults fired and threw them together, huge stone bullets roared over the Ji River and fell directly on the head of the Western Chu army's river defense fortifications, the deer-anted horse and arrow towers that the Western Chu army had worked hard to build before were indeed shattered like paper, and smashed the Western Chu army's sheep and horse walls into gaps everywhere, and also smashed the Western Chu army soldiers hiding after the fortifications to cry and howl, with heavy casualties and difficulty in gaining a foothold.

Seeing this, the soldiers of the Western Chu army who had not seen the Han army counterweight trencher with their own eyes were of course exclaiming and their morale declined. However, Huan Chu smiled helplessly and said to himself: "I thought the Jishui defense line could be blocked at least ten days. Now it seems that it is a miracle to be able to survive today."

Huan Chu was anxious, but hesitated not to know that Xiang Kang on the north bank of Jishui had not had much joy on his face, and hesitated in his heart, because as early as yesterday, Xiang Kang had received a detailed report and learned about the latest trend of the main force of the Western Chu army who left the Dingtao battlefield five days ago - did not continue to retreat to Shanfu in the southeast, and actually chose to continue to advance eastward and head toward the road from Chengwu to Fangyu.

When they received this news, Xiang Kang, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were all confused. They didn't understand why Xiang Yu finally got rid of the entanglement of the main force of the Han army's middle lane, how could he not take the shortcut between Shanfu and Fengyi, directly retreating to Pengcheng, and gain time to take the deep groove and high avenue to prepare to welcome the two attacks of the Han army? He just wanted to leave it far away and go to the south of Xue County to go back to Pengcheng. He also thought that Xiang Yu thought that the township-level road from Fengyi to Pengcheng was relatively difficult to walk, and thought that Fang Yu and Huling went south to walk on the county-level road.

Li Zuoche, who was skilled in tactics, saw through Xiang Yu's purpose at a glance and determined that Xiang Yu was preparing to go to the southern part of Xue County to pick up the remaining troops of the Chuji coalition, and then retreat to Pengcheng together. He also proposed a very risky tactic, which would make Xiang Yu and the main force of the Western Chu army have no hope of withdrawing Pengcheng as long as they succeed.

Xiang Kang, who has always been decisive, rarely hesitated for this reason. He once had an inclination to adopt Li Zuoche's risky tactics. However, considering the danger of doing so, there was no time to confirm whether the Western Chu army was really preparing to cross the protruding protrusions in the northeast of Dang County to go directly to Fangyu. In the end, he denied Li Zuoche's tactics and chose to continue to implement the original defeat tactics.

However, Li Zuoche's proposal also took root in Xiang Kang's heart, making Xiang Kang regret more than once whether he made a mistake in his choice and missed a rare opportunity to destroy the main force of the Western Chu army as soon as possible. Therefore, although the Han army's rush to cross the river was progressing smoothly, Xiang Kang was not happy at all, and still vaguely felt that he should not continue to cross the Ji River.

"King, the Western Chu thief army can't hold on anymore and has voluntarily given up the river defense fortifications. Can we initiate a rush to ferry?"

Zhang Liang's reminder made Xiang Kang come back to his senses. When he looked up to see the situation on the south bank of the Jishui River, he saw that the Western Chu army had indeed temporarily abandoned the smashed river defense fortifications and retreated to the range of the Han army's catapults to reorganize the team. Xiang Kang nodded and ordered: "Send the order to the catapults to suspend the throwing of big stones, modify the sheep-head stones, and prepare to cover our commando to rush to ferry. In addition, ask the commando to board the ship."

The guard next to him sang a no. He immediately raised the banner and asked the catapult to temporarily stop the catapult, and asked the Han army assault team to board the ship to launch a ferry. However, Li Zuoche next to him quickly said: "King, this is our last chance. Have you made up your mind?"

Xiang Kang looked even hesitant and did not rush to answer. Chen Ping on the other side said: "Guangwu Jun, although your analysis is reasonable, we cannot prove that the main force of the Western Chu bandit Army advanced eastward and was preparing to pick up the Chuji bandit army to retreat south. If the Western Chu bandit Army chose to take the main road to Huling and go directly south for the sake of marching, then we will not only be in vain, but also miss the opportunity to annihilate the Western Chu bandit Army in Dingtao?"

"Don't worry, Lieutenant Chen, the Western Chu bandits' army would never change the way to facilitate march!" Li Zuoche replied firmly and said, "Xiaguan had already made it clear last evening that although the road from Fengyi to Pengcheng is relatively difficult to walk, the situation from Chengwu to Fang and this road is similar. This is enough to prove that the Western Chu bandits' army did not change the way to seek convenience to the road! Since this is the case, the Western Chu bandits' army crossed the northeast of Dang County and went straight to Fang and Yu, which must be to pick up the remaining troops of the Chuji bandits' army to go south!"

"King, it's a rare opportunity." Li Zuoche continued: "Now we give up rushing to cross the Ji River, change to the hills and cross the river, take the convenient benefits of marching, and directly attack the southern part of Dang County. We can be surprised and suddenly bite the main force of the Western Chu bandit Army, and then wait for General Zhou Shu's army to arrive. With the strength of our two armies, it is easy to annihilate the main force of the Western Chu bandit Army in the north of Pengcheng! Even if Xiang Yu escaped by chance, he would no longer have the chance to resist stubbornly in Pengcheng. He would only escape to Huainan and Jiangdong and survive, and would no longer have the strength to pose a threat to us."

"We have to take two dangers to do this." Lou Jing said: "First, we have made a mistake in judgment, missed the fighter opportunity to defeat the Western Chu bandits, and gave the Dingtao bandits army a chance to escape calmly. Second, if General Zhou Shu's army cannot arrive in time, we will not only respond to the crazy counterattack of the main force of the Western Chu bandits army without a strong camp, but also may be attacked by the Chuji bandits army from the hinterland of Xue County."

"In addition, the traffic connection with General Zhou is also a big problem." Lou Jing frowned again and added: "We took the risk to go deep into the southern part of Xue County, but we didn't know that General Zhou and the others had already fought there. Once the messenger could not contact General Zhou in time, it would be difficult for his army to arrive in time for reinforcements, and our alone army would definitely be more difficult for us to fight hard."

"War is a gambling." Li Zuoche replied very directly, saying: "If we lose, we will certainly be defeated in the middle, and the time for destroying Chu must be postponed. But if we win, the time for destroying Chu can be greatly advanced. Xiang Yu no longer has the opportunity to bring the main force of the Western Chu thief army to Huainan and Jiangdong to regroup."

Xiang Kang had a gloomy face and did not speak, and still could not make up his mind. However, the Han soldiers did not give Xiang Kang time to consider it. After a little hesitation, the Han commando had already boarded the ship. Just waited for Xiang Kang to give orders, and immediately launched a ferry attack. Zhang Liang quickly reminded him again and said, "King, our soldiers have all boarded the ship."

Xiang Kang still didn't say anything. In a complicated mood, Xiang Kang simply stood up and walked to the high ground of the north bank where the Han army flag formation was located to make a nervous plan. He was extremely anxious, "Do you want to take risks? If you don't take risks, what will happen?"

At this moment, a sudden bleak river wind made Xiang Kang, who had lost his history, suddenly remembered a famous story - Wujiang commit suicide. Then after a little calculation, Xiang Kang turned around and asked Li Zuoche, Zhang Liang and others a puzzled question, "Where is Wujiang? If I remember correctly, it seems to be called Wujiangting now."

"Where is Wujiang?"

Zhang Liang, Chen Ping and others were all stunned. Fortunately, everyone present was quite familiar with Xiang Kang's jumping thinking. After coming to his senses, Zhang Liang, who was familiar with geography, immediately replied: "Report to the king, on the Yangtze River in the northeast of Jiujiang County, the king remembers correctly. It is indeed a small pavilion, which is under the jurisdiction of Liyang County."

"On the edge of the Yangtze River?" Xiang Kang's expression was obviously a little surprised, and he couldn't help but blurt out: "So, there is not only a Huai River between Wujiang and Gaixia, but there are still hundreds of miles away?"

Chen Ping and others were even more shocked when they heard this. Zhang Liang had no choice but to bite the bullet and answered: "Report to the king, I don't know the specific distance from Gaixia to Wujiang, but the rough estimate is that it is at least 400 miles."

Xiang Kang then closed his mouth and then said in his heart: "In history, Xiang Yu was defeated in Gaixia, and only led a few cavalry to break through and escape. He fled for more than 400 miles to the end of Wujiang. Finally, he felt that he had no face to face the elders of Jiangdong, so he made up his mind to die. In other words, he didn't want to die at all. At least he had the plan to run to Jiangdong and make a comeback when breaking through Gaixia."

"Now Huainan and Jiangdong are still in the hands of Xiang Yu. If I miss this opportunity, even if I join forces with Uncle Zhou to go south to Pengcheng, Xiang Yu will likely continue to retreat to Huainan and Jiangdong in order to survive and make a comeback. By then, my food supply has been extremely long and the surrounding areas are full of Xichu cities that have not yet surrendered. There is definitely no way to chase them. I can only watch Xiang Yu regroup in Huainan and Jiangdong. At that time, not only will I not know when I will completely eliminate him, but the traitor Liu Laosan may also take advantage of the troubled waters in Jiangdong and Huainan, which will become a greater threat to me!"

It was still when he was thinking about this that the hesitant expression on Xiang Kang's face was completely wiped out, and then he shouted decisively: "Ming Jin, withdraw the troops and return to the camp!"

"King! We heard it right?" Except for Li Zuoche, all the Han military and civil servants present screamed in surprise, rushing to scream: "Mingjin withdraws the troops? At this time, Mingjin withdraws the troops?"

"You heard it right!" Xiang Kang said coldly: "Immediately call the gold and withdraw the troops and return to the camp! This is an order!"

It is rare to see Xiang Kang's expression so serious. Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others immediately understood that Xiang Kang had made up his mind and dared not say anything more. Xu Ji also quickly asked the guards to ring the Jinke to withdraw the troops and order the Han army soldiers who had already boarded the ship to get off the ship immediately. There is no need to say much. After the Jinke, the soldiers of the Han army assault team who had already boarded the ship were of course inexplicable, and all suspected that there was something wrong with their ears. The Western Chu army on the south bank of the Jishui River were all speechless and screaming in disbelief, "We heard that right? Did the Han thieves scream in gold?"

"Han thieves have moaned gold?" Huan Chu, the Grand Marshal of the Western Chu Army who was worried, screamed the loudest, and shouted: "What's wrong? Why did the Han thieves suddenly moan the gold? There is no reason?"

At the same time, Xiang Kang called Guan Ying in front of him and ordered him: "Bring the cavalry and equipment to build the floating bridge, set off immediately and go to Chengqiu to build the floating bridge. Before dawn tomorrow, six floating bridges should be built in Chengqiu, and no mistakes should be made."

After Guan Ying agreed loudly, Xiang Kang quickly added: "Let's go north first, and then turn to the direction of Chengqiu. I will pretend to evacuate the boats, send you some boats, and help you build a floating bridge in Chengqiu."

Guan Ying understood that Xiang Kang's explanation must have been a reason, so he quickly put his fists and sang promises again, and then returned to the camp to prepare to lead the cavalry. Xiang Kang ordered again: "Let the army return to the camp immediately and prepare to set off, strictly block the river bank, and try not to give the Western Chu army scouts crossing the river to explore our movements. In addition, let the Western Chu bandits army know that Zhao Xie, the King of Zhao Xie, colluded with Qi State, to rebel, and I will personally lead the army back to Zhaodi to suppress the rebellion."

"King, will this affect our morale in the military?" Chen Ping asked quickly.

"I can't care about that much." Xiang Kang said with a serious expression: "The most important thing now is to buy us time. The later the Ding Tao Thief Army will know our real trends, the better."

Seeing that Xiang Kang had made up his mind, the Han army did not dare to disobey the civil and military officials, so they quickly protected the promise, and then deliberately sent people to the Jishui shore to shout loudly, claiming that Zhao King Zhao Xie colluded with Qi to rebel, and Xiang Kang wanted to lead his army back to Zhao to quell the rebellion. Xiang Kang then said in his heart: "At worst, the army will be defeated in the middle, and withdraw and regroup. With Xiang Yu's temper, as long as he wins a battle, he will definitely plot to counterattack immediately. At that time, my battle may be better."

It's not bad that the Han army legal team under Chen Ping deliberately ran to the Jishui shore and pretended to urge the Han army soldiers to retreat quickly. They took the opportunity to yell that after Zhao Xie rebelled in Zhao State, the situation was really quickly heard by the scouts of the Western Chu Army with sharp ears, and they quickly reported to Huan Chu. As a result, Huan Chu was of course ecstatic when he heard this, and raised his hands high and cheered, "God blessed! Zhao State suddenly rebelled, no wonder the thieves suddenly roared gold! Now we can finally rest assured that we don't have to worry about being annihilated by the thieves in Dingtao City!"

After cheering, considering Xiang Kang's always treacherous, in order to be cautious, Huan Chu did not dare to report the unconfirmed news to Xiang Yu immediately, but also quickly sent scouts across the river to investigate the movements of the Han army, and held several small-scale scout wars with the Han army scouts who were strictly blocking the river bank.

After returning to the camp, Xiang Kang immediately issued three orders, one was to let the main force of the Han army's middle road immediately set off the camp and prepare to retreat, the second was to let the reinforcements led by Qi Ji and Han Xin rush to the southern part of Xue County along the road to meet him, and the third was to let Zhong Limei lead 20,000 troops to continue to stay on the north bank of the Ji River, pretending to be the main force of the Han army's middle road, but in fact he was responsible for monitoring and restraining the 30,000 Western Chu army under Huan Chu, and also to launch a scout war with the Dingtao Western Chu army, trying to delay the time when Huan Chu's troops knew that the main force of the Han army was moving.

In addition, Xiang Kang also took a risk to let Zhong Limei block the news of the 20,000 Han soldiers who were left behind, and claimed that he had returned to the north to suppress the rebellion of Zhao State, and did not hesitate to affect the morale of the army, so as to continue to mislead Huan Chu's troops' judgment on the trends of the self-army.
Chapter completed!