In fact, Li Zuoche looked at Xiang Yu's confidence slightly. If Xiang Kang sent Ding Ji to lead the army to advance and ordered Ding Ji to establish a camp in other places, then Xiang Yu would probably ignore it and allow the front team of the Han army to establish a camp nearby, so that Xiang Kang could lead the main brigade to deliver it to his door to create a chance for the decisive battle for his own army.

However, the Han army could not set up camps in the old village. The old village was not only the only high ground between Huling and Yutaiting, and the terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was also close to the Sishui River in the south. The Sishui happened to be in this position and the water flow was relatively flat and could serve as a temporary ferry. Once the Han army gained a firm foothold in the old village, it would not only be difficult for the Western Chu army to capture the Han army's camp, but the Han army could also release fire rafts at any time to raid the Western Chu army's floating bridge downstream of the Sishui River. In addition, if necessary, the Han army could also build a floating bridge on the spot in the old village, cross the Sishui River to launch a surprise attack or pursue, and gain a great initiative in the battlefield.

It is also because of this that day, when Ding Ji was approaching the evening, he led 30,000 Han troops to the old village and started to build camps. After the situation was reported to Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu immediately decided to lead the army to attack the old village early the next morning, and not give the Han army a chance to gain a foothold in the old village. For the sake of the main force of the Western Chu army, Liu Laosan and Kuai Che all supported Xiang Yu's decision.

The decisive battle between the main force of the Han army's middle route and the main force of the Western Chu army was officially launched. The next morning, Xiang Yu had just led 60,000 Western Chu army to the Laozhai, and immediately launched an attack like the Han army still rushing to build camps. The 30,000 Han army front team led by Ding Ji was also forced to fight. Relying on the high terrain advantage and the newly-formed camp fortifications, tenaciously resisted the attack of the Western Chu army, and fought with the Western Chu army on the high ground of the old village, and the sky was dark and the sun and the moon were gone.

Xiang Yu, who liked field battles, finally fought a happy battle. Under his personal command, 60,000 Western Chu troops marched into battle one after another, attacking the Han army's positions like ups and downs, killing the Han army that had not yet achieved success, and had no power to fight back. In the midst of his career, Xiang Yu also personally wore heavy armor to attack the Han army's positions, and killed more than 20 enemies on the formation, which inspired all the soldiers of the Western Chu army to compete for the first place. They all fought bravely and tore a gap in the Han army's defensive position, and then rushed into the inside of the Han army's camp and rushed left and right, as if entering a land of no one.

Seeing that the situation was already extreme, Ding Ji knew that it was not Xiang Yu's opponent, had no choice but to give up the old camp that had not been built yet and fled to Yutaiting. The Western Chu army took advantage of the situation to chase and completely defeat the Han army. He chased and rushed directly to the vicinity of Yutaiting. It was still after seeing the Han army defeated brigade fleeing back to the more solid Yutaiting camp, Xiang Yu ordered the withdrawal of the troops and laughed wildly, leading the Western Chu army, which lacked weapons to attack, to retreat to Huling to rest.

After escaping back to the camp in a panic, Ding Ji of course ran to Xiang Kang in disgrace to apologize. Fortunately, Xiang Kang did not pursue Ding Ji's ineffective combat. He just waved his hand and said, "It's okay, victory or defeat is common in military affairs. My brother is invincible in the field. You don't have time to build a camp, so it's normal to not be able to defeat him. It's not too late to take revenge when our main force on the northern line arrives. Go and reorganize the team, count the losses, and then have a good rest."

After comforting Ding Ji, Xiang Kang turned to another Han army general next to him, Zheng Bu and ordered: "General Zheng Bu, go and prepare immediately. At the You hour, we will lead 30,000 troops to the old village again. We will build camps overnight and strive to build our new camp in the old village, so that our main brigade can move east with confidence and set up camp near Huling."

"This..." Zheng Bu's expression was obviously a little embarrassed. He hesitated for a moment before bowing and saying, "King, it's not that the ministers are greedy for life and fear of death. In just one night, the ministers are really not sure to build a solid camp in the old village. If the Western Chu bandits continue to send troops to attack the old village tomorrow, the ministers may not be able to defend it."

"Try to do everything." Xiang Kang ordered: "No matter what solution you think or how much you pay, try to do this for me."

Seeing that Xiang Kang was determined, Zheng Bu didn't dare to say anything else. He just immediately put his fists and sang promises, then quickly went down to lead the army to take over Ding Ji and then go to the old village to build a camp. Then after Zheng Bu left, Li Zuoche, who was skilled in tactics, said carefully: "King, although the arrogant military strategy is definitely useful to Xiang Yu, it may not be able to hide it from the rest of the Western Chu bandit Army. If anyone among them could point this to Xiang Yu, it would suggest that Xiang Yu take a little advantage and run away. We are afraid that many soldiers will be killed or injured in vain."

"I can't use this kind of arrogant military strategy with huge losses." Xiang Kang replied helplessly: "We have no chance of winning in the decisive battle in the wild. My brother is very clear that we are waiting for General Zhou's reinforcements, and it is possible to cross Sishui and retreat to Pengcheng at any time. So there is no way, so I have to deliberately fight a few defeats, making him feel that victory is in sight, and he is reluctant to withdraw his troops just now, so he tries to buy time for Uncle Zhou."

Li Zuoche nodded helplessly and said, "Master Yingming, in this situation, we can only do it for one more day."

That night, the troops of Zheng Bu of the Han army, who were dispatched in the evening, rushed to the old village and immediately began to continue to rob the camp that Ding Ji had not had time to build. This situation was quickly reported to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu did indeed cheer and immediately decided to lead the army to attack again the next day, continue to attack the old village where the Han army was trying to gain a foothold, and give the Han army a little more color.

Xiang Yu also did this as he wished. The next day under his leadership, when the Western Chu army attacked the old village again, although the Han army soldiers led by Zheng Bu were extremely tenacious and still had no time to build the old village camp, they still could not stop the Western Chu army's crazy offensive like the raging waves of the sea. As soon as they stood until noon, Xiang Yu personally led his army into the camp. After paying a considerable price, he was still forced to flee to the west. Xiang Yu once again led his army to chase and killed countless captive Han soldiers.

Liu Laosan also participated in this battle. As Xiang Yu chased the Han army outside the Yutaiting camp, Xiang Yu and many of the Western Chu army's arrogant soldiers laughed and insulted outside the Han army camp. Zhang was arrogant and arrogant. Liu Laosan's face was gloomy and there was no joy at all. After quickly reorganizing the troops under his command, seeing that Xiang Yu still did not order to withdraw the troops, Liu Laosan couldn't help but say to several subordinates next to him: "Please, our king has been trapped in the arrogant military plan of Xiang Kang's traitor. Now he wants to persuade him to retreat through Sishui and withdraw back to Pengcheng as soon as possible. It will definitely be even more difficult."

Zhou Bo, who could fight with his brain, nodded together with Cao Shen, and also understood that the Han army's defeat in the past two days was probably Xiang Kang who did it on purpose. Fan Kuai never liked to talk too much and did not speak. However, another Liu Laosan, who happened to be present, spoke and asked curiously: "Pei Gong, we have won two battles in a row. Why do you want to persuade the king to quickly cross Sishui and withdraw back to Pengcheng?"

He glanced at the subordinate who was asking about it casually. Seeing that he was Cao Wushang, the same clan of Cao Shen, and the old man in Pei County who had been following him for many years, Liu Laosan did not care and scolded: "You know what do you know? Xiang Kang's traitor clearly showed that he deliberately defeated the war and made us king careless and underestimated the enemy, making us king reluctant to withdraw back to Pengcheng quickly and buy time for the husband Zhou as much as possible. As long as the king is fooled, we will be in great trouble."

"Pei Gong, then I will ask more, where did the Zhou Shuppifu's army arrive? When will it reach Huling?" Cao Wushang asked curiously again.

"You ask me, who will I ask?" Liu Laosan replied angrily: "We sent the messenger to contact Zuo Sima, but we have not come back yet, and Zuo Sima has not sent anyone to contact us. How do I know where Zhou Shupinfu has been?"

"What?" Cao Wushang was very surprised and said hurriedly: "Pei Gong, that means we actually don't even know where Zuo Sima has arrived?"

Liu Laosan nodded with a gloomy face, lowered his voice slightly, and said, "No outside news. Actually, I suspect that the reason why we lost contact with Zuo Sima and the others is probably because Zuo Sima and the others have been surrounded by thieves. If they can't hold on, Uncle Zhou's man might suddenly arrive at Huling at any time."

Cao Wushang nodded quickly, and Liu Laosan looked at Xiang Yu who was still shouting in the distance, and suddenly said to himself: "No, I must go and persuade us tonight. No matter how small the hope is, I will advise him to pass Sishui first."

The speaker was unintentional, and the listener was intentional. When Cao Wushang heard what Liu Laosan said, he also remembered this incident in his heart. So after finally waiting for Xiang Yu to scold and vent his vent, he took the Western Chu army back to Huling to rest, Cao Wushang was careful and stared at Liu Laosan's every move. He soon saw Liu Laosan going to the direction of the Central Army camp. Cao Wushang, who knew Liu Laosan's nature, immediately guessed that Liu Laosan might have been trying to persuade Xiang Yu to withdraw his troops and return to Pengcheng as soon as possible.

It was precisely because of this that when it was dark, when it was almost dark, Cao Wushang found an excuse to come to Liu Laosan's camp to ask for a meeting. As a result, Cao Wushang was secretly worried that when he met, Liu Laosan was not only full of alcohol, but also obviously accompanied Xiang Yu to drink a drink, and his eyebrows were full of joy, and he seemed very excited and proud.

It was quite a coincidence that when Cao Wushang was about to say goodbye, his clan brother Cao Shen also came to meet Liu Laosan. As soon as he entered the tent, he said, "Pei Gong, the scout who sent to Yutaiting to explore the enemy situation has returned. As of sunset, the Han thieves showed no signs of sending troops. If nothing unexpected happens, the Han thieves should not have any action tonight."

"Of course." Liu Laosan said proudly: "Xiang Kang's traitors must also consider his losses. In today's battle, our heads were over 4,000. No matter how much the Xiang Kang's traitors were at all costs, they would not dare to send tens of thousands of troops to the Lao Fort to give us heads every day."

"What if the Han thieves deliberately sent troops to the old fort to build camps tomorrow night?" Cao Shen asked curiously.

Liu Laosan was indeed a little drunk and said casually: "Don't worry, I had persuaded the king to agree just now. We will start to secretly prepare for retreat tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, crossing Sishui will be much easier to do as long as we pass Sishui."

When Cao Shen heard this, he was overjoyed and asked Liu Laosan for details. Liu Laosan also introduced the general situation casually, saying that he had pulled Xiang Bo and Master Xiang to point out Xiang Kang's arrogance to Xiang Yu, and persuaded Xiang Yu to take advantage of the situation and ran away. He made up his mind to retreat to Sishui first. Cao Wushang did not speak much after hearing this, but just took his leave with Cao Shen. However, after returning to his tent, Cao Wushang tossed and turned around for a whole night. When it was approaching dawn, Cao Wushang even put on his clothes and stood up, picked up his pen and wrote a letter...

…………

As Liu Laosan analyzed, Xiang Kang was indeed unable to bear the losses of the army, so he did not send troops to Laozhai for the third consecutive day after Ding Ji and Zheng Bu were defeated continuously. After two days of battle, the Han army was killed and missing, and the soldiers were approaching the 10,000 mark, and the number of minor and serious wounded people exceeded 3,000. The losses were far more severe than Xiang Kang estimated in advance. Therefore, although Xiang Kang had a lot of capital, when there was no news of the reinforcements yet, Xiang Kang did not dare to continue to send troops to Laozhai to deliberately suffer defeat.

However, at noon the second day after Zheng Bu's defeat, in order to continue to entangle the main force of the Western Chu army, Xiang Kang had to consider sending troops to the old camp again, striving to entangle Xiang Yu for a few more days. He even planned to lead his army to the old camp himself, hooking his overlord cousin to make him reluctant to retreat in a hurry.

Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Li Zuoche and others strongly opposed Xiang Kang's personal leadership to the old village. The reason was very simple. Time was too hasty, and the Han army had absolutely no possibility to quickly build a camp that could be held. As long as the Western Chu army advances to the old village, the Han army will basically be defeated. If Xiang Kang personally leads his army to the old village to fight this battle of defeat, once there is any mistake in the formation, the consequences will definitely be unimaginable!

After repeated consideration, Xiang Kang accepted the kindness of Zhang Liang, Chen Ping and others, and decided to let Long Qi go to the old village to lure the enemy. However, at this moment, a guard suddenly came outside the tent to report that the Han army scouts caught a soldier in the woods southeast of Yutaiting. During this period, the soldiers of the Western Chu army not only did not escape, but also took the initiative to express that they had a secret matter to meet Xiang Kang, hoping to get Xiang Kang's personal reception.

"Did he say who he is?" Xiang Kang asked casually.

"Reporting to the king, he said that he claimed to be the confidant of Cao Wushang, the 500th leader of the Western Chu thief Army, and came to see you at the order of Cao Wushang."

Before the guard's answer was finished, Xiang Kang stood up and shouted: "Hurry up, bring that person in immediately. I want to see him immediately! Also, I will issue a ban order and do not let go of any slightest noise!"

According to Xiang Kang's order, the messenger sent by Cao Wushang was soon brought to Xiang Kang. He first expressed his identity and said that he was Cao Wushang's subordinate. Because he had saved his life by Cao Wushang, he had been close to Cao Wushang's kindness, so he was sent by Cao Wushang to contact Xiang Kang, and then presented a handwritten letter written by Cao Wushang to Xiang Kang.

In the letter, Cao Wushang of course reported to Xiang Kang, saying that Xiang Yu had decided to take some advantage and ran away. At dawn tomorrow, he would lead the main force of the Western Chu army to cross Sishui. In addition, he also reported to Xiang Kang that the important situation that the main force of the Western Chu army had not actually contacted the remnants of the Chuji coalition. Xiang Kang was of course unbelievable, so he blurted out: "How is it possible? The main force of the Western Chu bandit Army has never contacted the remaining troops of the Chuji bandit Army? Like us, he knows nothing about the current situation in the hinterland of Xue County?"

Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were also full of surprise. They hurriedly came up to read the letter with Xiang Kang. After reading Cao Wushang's handwritten letter, Zhang Liang quickly whispered in Xiang Kang's ear: "King, beware of fraud. This may be the trick of the Western Chu bandits' army to lure troops. Let Cao Wushang surrender and lure us to risk his troops."

Xiang Kang was nervously thinking, first he carefully read Cao Wushang's letter, then looked up at the messenger sent by Cao Wushang, and then asked for a while: "Apart from this letter, did General Cao ask you to bring anything to me?"

"Reporting to the King of Han, General Cao also said, please feel free to believe the content of his letter." The messenger Cao Wushang hurriedly replied: "These situations were all heard from Liu Ji personally, and they could not be fake. In addition, General Cao also said that villains can stay in your military camp, your king, waiting for him."

"It may be an uninformed death room."

Xiang Kang, who was good at using death to deceive the enemy, came to a conclusion in his heart, but after repeated calculations, Xiang Kang ordered the guards to take Cao Wushang's messenger down for a good life and give him a heavy reward. Then, after Cao Wushang's messenger was taken away, Chen Ping, who was in charge of the intelligence work of the Han army, said: "King, it's best not to believe that Cao Wushang is a little bit unfaithful. My subordinates clearly remember that when we sent to contact Cao Wushang, we said that when Cao Wushang agreed to be an insider, he agreed very readily, so refreshing that people couldn't believe it was true."

"King, my subordinates also think that they cannot trust them." Li Zuoche also said: "Especially, the main force of the Western Chu bandit Army has not yet contacted the Chu Ji bandit Army. It is the most suspicious. Logically speaking, unless the army under General Zhou Shu's command completely surrounds the Chu Ji bandit Army, it is possible to completely cut off the connection between the Chu Ji bandit Army and the main force of the Western Chu bandit Army. However, the terrain of Xue County is wide, and General Zhou Shu's attempt to do this is definitely not as easy as imagined."

Xiang Kang didn't say anything, but just recalled the Hongmen Banquet movies and books he had watched. He stood in Cao Wushang's position and put himself in his shoes for a long time. He suddenly said, "Send the order, the entire army prepares for the war secretly. The second update sent troops to Huling before dawn to block the Western Chu bandit army from crossing the river!"

"The King..."
Chapter completed!