"What a fake king Jingju and fake commander Yin Qinjia, how dare you take advantage of the situation and ask us to surrender to him? What a wishful thinking!"
At the same time, the county temple in Xiapi of Donghai County (Gupi Town, Suining County, Jiangsu Province) had been occupied by the "Chu Army". Xiang Sheng, who had the head of a tiger and the forehead of a swallow, had some resemblance to Xiang Yu's appearance. He was furious.
He tore up the letters sent by "King of Western Chu" Jing Ju and "Ling Yin" Qin Jia to pieces, then pointed at the messenger outside the hall and said:
"Drag it down and kill it!"
"Quiet, quiet."
Xiang Tang (Uncle Xiang) on the side quickly stopped Xiang Sheng and dissuaded him: "When the two countries are at war, why don't you kill the envoy..."
Xiang Sheng became even more angry: "Cousin, I'm afraid you are confused. In this world, only the Chu State established by my Xiang family, with its capital in Shouchun, is the orthodox one. The others are all hypocrites. How could there be any war between the two countries?
?”
Xiang could not tolerate being silent. He was a descendant of the Xiang family. He was also the one who escaped back to the family with Xiang Yan's head during the decisive battle between Wang Jian and Xiang Yan more than ten years ago. He had an unforgettable hatred for the Qin Dynasty.
A few years ago, the Xiang family was confiscated by the government, and the family's descendants were scattered around. However, Xiang Sheng hid in the mountains and forests, and together with Xiang Yan's third son, Xiang Xiang, it gradually became a habit to attract his descendants and old officials.
At the end of April this year, when he learned that Xiang Ji had raised troops in Chaohu and led Huainan heroes to besiege Shouchun, Xiang Sheng could no longer bear it and responded immediately.
After seizing the county seat, he captured Ling County in the south and Siwu in the north. In May, he gathered two thousand troops and captured Pi in the north...
Xiapi is located at the intersection of Sishui and Yishui. It is an important road between Huaisi and the only way to Tancheng, the capital of Donghai County, and Pengcheng, a large city in Sishui County.
A rebellion has also broken out here, and the main culprits are Zhang Liang, a Korean nobleman who is hiding here, and Xiang Yan's youngest son Xiang Tang.
In mid-May, the two armies joined together and had captured three thousand men. Zhang Liang then proposed: "First march south to Huaiyin to meet the young general, then call on the heroes of Chu to capture Pengcheng in the west and Tan County in the north. Then the East China Sea and Surabaya River can be captured.
I also sent a general to capture Langya and Xue Commandery, and established the Tian family as the king of Qi. The land of Qi would be shaken, and with the combined power of Qi and Chu, we could conquer the west and destroy Qin!"
Similar to Fan Zeng, Zhang Liang also believed that he should not rush into the Central Plains and attract the main force of the Qin court, but should take advantage of the Qin army and Heifu to confront Nanyang and seize the time to develop in the corners.
Unlike Fan Zeng who only wanted to serve Chu, Zhang Liangliang wanted to restore Korea, so in addition to leaving the country, he also advocated mobilizing the remaining people of the other five countries.
History has proved that any country that confronts Qin is bound to lose. It must gather the power of the six countries. The wave of restoration should be brought from Chu to Qi, then to Zhao, Weiyan, and finally his hometown, South Korea.
…
Only in this way can we gain victory!
Zhang Liang's ability is to strategize and win decisively thousands of miles away.
But this plan was ruined by Qin Jia, who raised troops at the same time.
Qin Jia is a hero in Ling County. He was originally the descendant of Qin, a senior official in the state of Lu. After the state of Chu destroyed Lu, he moved to Donghai County. In the East China Sea, Surabaya has a high reputation.
In the past few years, the Xiang family and other big nobles were attacked by the imperial court and were unlucky, while Qin Jia and other small nobles took advantage of the opportunity to develop.
In the same period of April and May, Qin Jia and his friends Dong Qi from Qi County, Zhu Jishi from Fuli, Zheng Bu from Qili, Ding Ji from Xu and other local young knights also started troubles one after another, each occupying their hometown counties.
He then joined forces and attacked Pengcheng (Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province) with 5,000 or 6,000 men.
In mid-May, the allied forces captured Pengcheng. I don't know if they had not received the news of the "restoration of Chu" in Huainan, or if they had other plans, they openly proclaimed Jing Ju, a great nobleman of the old Chu state, as the king of Chu!
At this time, there was a situation where two Chu kings stood side by side in the anti-Qin team. Because Pengcheng belonged to Western Chu geographically, it was called the "King of Western Chu", and Shouchun belonged to Southern Chu, so it was called the "King of Southern Chu".
”.
The two Chu states stood side by side, and both believed that they were the orthodox ones, and the hatred of heretics was greater than that of heretics. Originally, Zhang Liang advocated a plan for both parties to work together and take Tan County from the north, and then let him enter Qi, and call on the heroes of Qi to rebel against Qin for the second time.
,bankrupted……
Not only that, while the two sides were confronting each other, the governor of Donghai County had sent out county troops to suppress the rebellion. He cleared out the rebels in several counties in the northern part of Donghai County. After receiving support from Langya County, he commanded five thousand troops and marched to Xiapi.
!Camped eight miles north of the city.
Three thousand versus five thousand, if it was an ordinary battle, the number of the two sides would be about the same, so Xiang Sheng would not be afraid.
But at this time, Jing Ju and Qin Jia actually sent 4,000 people to the other side of Surabaya, looking from a distance, as if they were watching the fire from across the bank.
Xiang Sheng then did not dare to leave the city rashly. He thought that even if he defeated the Qin army with an outnumbered enemy, the empty Xiapi would be obtained by Qin Jia. Wouldn't it be a wedding dress for someone?
As a result, the Qin army, Southern Chu, and Western Chu have been facing each other in Xiapi for a day. No one dares to move rashly, and no one wants to retreat.
The first one to take action was Qin Jia. Under the banner of "support", he wrote a letter asking the Xiang brothers in Xiapi to open the door and submit to the "Western Chu". This was how Xiang Sheng wanted to kill the envoy just now.
Xiang Juan didn't want the two sides to completely break up at this time, so he stopped the furious Xiang Sheng: "It will take a few days to kill him. Let's wait for my nephew Xiang Ji to come with his army to help!"
He turned to look at Zhang Liang at the same time: "Zifang, please say a few words!"
Zhang Liang, who had been silent all this time, raised his head, feeling helpless.
The former high-spirited young man from Xinzheng inherited the family's good looks and was quite like a woman.
Now, he has been running for twenty years to assassinate Qin and restore the country. He is over forty years old. He has many wrinkles on his forehead and has long hair on his temples.
Zhang Liang experienced the nightmare ten years when Qin wiped out the six kingdoms, and knew that although the six kingdoms tried to unite and resist Qin several times, they were ultimately destroyed by mutual distrust.
I thought that after the painful experience of destroying the country, the people of the six countries would learn some lessons. Who would have expected, let alone the country and the country, even the Chu people would divide into two countries as soon as they started fighting in order to fight for an "orthodox" one.
.
Jing Ju was a great aristocrat from the Three Clans of the Chu State, and he did not agree with the Xiang family picking up a wild boy from elsewhere to be called the King of Chu.
Everyone in the Xiang family has regarded the newly restored Huainan Chu Kingdom as their own, and they will not bow to Jing Ju and Qin Jia.
Zhang Liang secretly said: "The people with lofty ideals in the world who are against Qin should be a family and fight against Qin together. But now, for the sake of a king's title, brothers have wasted more than a month on the wall. The situation is great, but now they are even more neglected by the powerful enemy, surrounded by tigers and wolves."
, bent on internal fighting..."
Seeing this scene, Zhang Liang began to feel that his prediction of the future situation was too optimistic.
Now Xiang Juan is asking for help, not only to stop the impulsive Xiang Sheng, but also to hope that Zhang Liang can come up with a clever plan to relieve Xiapi's predicament...
So Zhang Liang stood up, adjusted his cuffs, and said:
"Send me to Surabaya."
Xiang Sheng stared at him: "You want to run?"
"Not running."
Zhang Liang showed an implicit smile: "I want to tell Qin Jia that Xiapi is willing to dedicate the city and submit to the king of Western Chu!"
"What!?"
Xiang Sheng was furious: "You, a Korean, want us to surrender to the enemy?"
"The enemy is Qin Ting, and in the future it may be Heifu's Northern Expeditionary Army!"
But Zhang Liang didn't say this. Chu people are famous for their love of internal fighting. Chu killed thirty-six kings in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Chu occupied four of them. Until the eve of the country's fall, Chun Shenjun, Li Yuan, and Fu Cu were still fighting among themselves.
There is no point in trying to persuade him.
But Xiang Juan reacted:
"Zifang, is this a plan?"
"Yes." Zhang Liang said concisely and to the point.
"I will ask to see Qin Jia and tell him that Xia Pi is willing to work together to fight against the Qin army. Afterwards, I will dedicate this city to him and ask him to cross the Surabaya River first!"
"Qin Jia has only two choices, to cross or not to cross."
Xiang Sheng said coldly: "What will happen if he doesn't survive?"
Zhang Liang said with a smile: "I once met Qin Jia. He was an arrogant county magnate who did not obey others easily and had a great face at the same time. He called himself the Ling Yin of Western Chu. If he did not cross the border, he would be timid. He would be despised by his subordinates.
If he dares not take the cities that are on his lips, who will be willing to obey him in the future?"
"What if he crosses?" Xiang Juan asked.
Zhang Liang said: "If Qin Jia is persuaded by me and agrees to cross the river, the choice will be in the hands of Qin Donghai Commandery."
"The captain of Donghai County has only two choices, to attack or not to attack."
"If we take the risk and attack halfway across the river, we can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight."
"If he doesn't attack, the Qin army will have no choice but to retreat, because he is not sure whether we are really joining forces..."
"So, there is at least a 50% chance that the siege of Pi can be solved."
Xiang Juan was a little worried: "What if you guessed wrong?
Zhang Liang had already stepped out of the door. He turned around and said with a smile: "In that case, it will just delay some time. The confrontation between the three parties is like a dead knot. It cannot be untied anyway, so just delay it."
Going down will actually be beneficial to us."
He turned to look at the clouds in the Xiapi sky.
"Because if we calculate the time, Major General Xiang Ji crossed the Huai River three days ago. If we hurry up, his vanguard will arrive today!"
…
Before Zhang Liang could leave Xiapi City, the Qin army formed an array eight miles north of the city, and the scouts hurriedly reported to the Donghai Commandery:
"Queen Lieutenant, a cavalry is coming from the northeast and is approaching the rear of our army. It is already five miles away!"
The captain of Donghai County was very surprised: "Northeast? Isn't that the direction our army is coming from?"
After learning that the southern part of Donghai County was rebelling, he wanted to go south to quell the rebellion, but he was blocked by Xiapi. The thieves in Xiapi and the thieves in Pengcheng were on both sides of the Surabaya River, and they were horns with each other, making it difficult to attack.
Therefore, the county commander has been hesitating whether to fight or not. He also sent out scouts widely and strengthened his vigilance in the southeast direction to guard against the approaching Chu bandit reinforcements.
Now the south is safe and sound, but there are enemy troops coming from the northeast. What a strange thing!
Deliberately taking a long way to avoid the scouts? Or...
The captain of Donghai County was a little panicked and asked hurriedly:
"What about the quantity?"
The scout said: "The total number of chariots and cavalry is less than three hundred, all dressed in red. They are extremely fast and don't seem to want to stop..."
"How dare three hundred people come to attack the formation of five thousand people?"
The commanders and commanders of Donghai County were all astonished and asked: "Whose flag is this?"
The scout no longer needed to answer, because in the distance on the horizon, the flag had already appeared in the Qin army's field of vision!
A touch of red, following the wind, hunting forward!
The writing on the flag is an ancient calligraphy from the state of Chu:
"item!"
Under the banner is also a Hongchen horse, from the armor to the great cloak, everything is as red as fire, but the horse sitting on it is a black divine horse, carrying the general, with three hundred chariots behind him, rushing down the hill, holding a halberd and fighting,