Chapter 33 10. "Siege Wei and save Zhao", a clever solution to the siege of Chenggao

In June of the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), the dispute between Chu and Han had been going on for two years, and the world was in chaos. Although the situation was not yet clear, it was beginning to emerge.The situation where the King of Chu once dominated the world is gone forever. The King of Han used Guanzhong as his military base, recruited troops, and appeased the people. He gradually gained a foothold and became the biggest threat to the King of Chu. With the assistance of Peng Yue's "guerrilla warfare", Liu Bang returned to Chenggao easily. As soon as Xiang Yu's army arrived, Peng Yue had no intention of fighting. His forte was guerrilla warfare, and he never had direct contact with Xiang Yu.The Chu army was very tired from running back and forth, and they didn't know when they would be relieved. Now that they were in the border of Chu State, they were so close to their families, and they didn't want to go to war anymore.Of course, Xiang Yu also had a very headache, but he had no good plan. When he returned to Pengcheng and saw Yu Ji who was thinking about it day and night, he temporarily put aside his worries and enjoyed Yu Ji's singing and dancing every day to relax himself.

Don't think that Xiang Yu is intoxicated in his comfort zone. He is a generation of heroes, and the current difficulties are nothing.These days in Pengcheng, he has been thinking about the problem: the battle still needs to be fought, but the Chu army must be willing to leave his hometown again; Xingyang and Chenggao, as the front lines of the Han army, must be broken, so that Liu Bang has no place to stand... At this time , Xiang Yu began to miss Fan Zeng.From Xiang Yu beheading Song Yi, Fan Zeng was by Xiang Yu's side, and when Xiang Liang was killed, Fan Zeng followed Xiang Yu and made suggestions, but after the "Hongmen Banquet", there was a rift between the two.Subsequent facts continued to prove Fan Zeng's correctness, which made the mighty overlord somewhat embarrassed, and finally fell into Liu Bang's countermeasures.Xiang Yu felt so regretful in his heart that he didn't even have anyone to discuss it with.

Concubine Yu saw that Xiang Yu was contemplating and knew that there might be another war, so she asked Xiang Yu, "My lord, when will we go?" Xiang Yu sighed and said, "I don't want to leave Pengcheng either, but the world is uncertain and the heroes are chaotic, so I still have to send troops." !" Although Yu Ji was reluctant in her heart, she was very understanding, "The king is reluctant to part, and the Chu army must also be reluctant to part. This is not a good thing for marching and fighting?" Xiang Yu knew that Yu Ji was reminding himself. The next day, Xiang Yu summoned the army and made an empty promise: "This time we destroy the Han army and capture the King of Han alive. The world will be peaceful, and everyone can go home and reunite with their families..." These words are true and false, But the soldiers felt refreshed after hearing this.They fought the Han army many times. In their opinion, the greatest ability of the King of Han is to "run" or "hide". As long as they fight head-on, the Han army is not the opponent of the Chu army. The family was reunited, and morale rose all of a sudden.

Xiang Yu bid farewell to Concubine Yu, led the Chu army to leave Pengcheng, and went straight to Xingyang and Chenggao.For the past two months, Liu Bang has played a mouse-hide-and-seek game, which produced unusual results.Xiang Yu's invincible cavalry was restrained by Liu Bang, running around, exhausted.Xiang Yu had already guessed Liu Bang's tricks, determined to change this situation, and decided on the next military strategy: shrinking troops, step by step, looking for breakthroughs, and cannibalizing the Han army.The breakthrough point of this strategy is Xingyang. Can Xiang Yu's strategy work?Because of early strategic mistakes, Liu Bang's strength has grown to an inestimable level. Xiang Yu didn't realize it, and Liu Bang didn't realize it either.

This time Xiang Yu was so aggressive that Liu Bang was shocked.Liu Bang escaped from Xingyang, Xingyang fell, Zhou Ke who was stationed in Xingyang was killed, and Wei Wangxin surrendered.Taking advantage of Xingyang's momentum, Xiang Yu attacked Chenggao with all his strength, trying to defeat the Han army in one fell swoop.Liu Bang knew that he was not Xiang Yu's opponent, so he quickly made preparations to escape. The military situation was urgent. In the middle of the night, Liu Bang urgently summoned Yingbo.Liu Bang said to Yingbo: "Chenggao is in danger now, and I'm afraid only you can handle it. I'll leave earlier and mobilize the army to fight Xiang Yu..." Yingbo hurriedly said: "Don't worry, King Han, I will stick to Chenggao..." Liu Bang He quickly waved his hand and said, "No way, you must preserve your strength, and leave if you can't fight them." Of course, Yingbo was unwilling to sacrifice his army on the Chenggao battlefield, so he readily accepted Liu Bang's suggestion.

Before dawn, under the cover of Yingbu, Liu Bang and Xia Houying shared a car, led a small number of elite soldiers, and escaped from Chenggao through the north gate.Liu Bang didn't dare to stop for a moment. He traveled day and night, crossed the Yellow River to the north, and changed horses.Xia Houying asked Liu Bang what to do next, and Liu Bang said: "The defense line I have been running for a long time has been broken. Now we need soldiers but no soldiers, no one, what can we do? It is not the past to bring Han Xin's soldiers over. "Xia Houying thought for a while and said: "Han Xin and Zhang Er hold the military power, we have nothing..." Xia Houying said this, reminding Liu Bang at once, Liu Bang thought to himself: "If Han Xin doesn't buy me, the King of Han What should I do with my account?" So he secretly made a plan in his heart, telling his subordinates to keep quiet when they arrived at Xiaoxiu Wu, and to live in the Chuanshe first.

When Liu Bang and others arrived at Xiaoxiuwu, it was already time to light the lanterns. Liu Bang claimed to be an envoy sent by the King of Han, and quietly lived in the Chuanshe.In the early morning of the next day, Liu Bang met Han Xin as an envoy and entered the camp smoothly.At that time, the camp was still quiet, and it was the time for the soldiers to slack off. Han Xin and Zhang Er were still sleepy.Liu Bang went in to hold a military meeting and redeployed his troops: Zhang Er tried his best to manage Zhao State, Han Xin was the prime minister of Zhao State, and commanded part of the Han army to attack Qi State eastward.

With the strength of Xiao Xiuwu, Liu Bang cheered up all of a sudden.In August, the Han army was stationed in the south of Xiaoxiuwu, preparing to cross the Yellow River to join forces with Yingbu and start a decisive battle with Xiang Yu.Liu Bang has been beaten by Xiang Yu for the past few months and has been hiding in Tibet. He has been unable to overcome his subconscious inferiority complex. In fact, he also really wants to have such a decisive battle to prove that a person of humble origin can also compete with the royal family and nobles. At this time, a doctor named Zheng Zhong made a very wise suggestion.Zheng Zhong is also a little-known little character, usually he doesn’t like to express his views, this time when Liu Bang discussed this matter with the officials, Zheng Zhong spoke: “My Lord has the heart to fight to the death with the King of Chu, and the King of Chu also has the heart to fight to the death.” This is my heart, but now the decisive battle is not good for the Han army..." Liu Bang heard this, and hurriedly asked Zheng Zhong for advice.Zheng Zhong said that the morale of the Chu army was high, and they were determined to wipe out the Han army and return home. At this time, it is not suitable to fight head-on. They should build high and deep moats, so that they can wear down the spirit of the Chu army, and then look for opportunities to fight.Liu Bang also felt that it made sense when he heard it, and immediately changed the strategic deployment.It can be seen from this that it is not that God likes to help Liu Bang, it is indeed that Liu Bang is very open-minded and willing to accept suggestions from different people.At this point, Xiang Yu lost to Liu Bang.

The Han army was really strong and could not get out, no matter what the Chu army scolded, Liu Bang adopted this tactic not once or twice. At the same time, Liu Bang sent Liu Jia and Lu Wan to lead 20,000 troops to reinforce Peng Yue, and together they launched a guerrilla war in the rear of Chu, cutting off the food and grass of the Chu army, and making the Chu army's rear a mess. How could the Chu army have the intention to besiege here? What about the Han army? On the side of the Chu army, first the food was reduced, and then the food was cut off. Then many soldiers received letters from their families, saying that "the Han army broke through such and such a city", "the Han army took away the food stored by the family for the past few years", "now , Our XX city was surrounded by the Han army" and so on.When the generals in the Chu army received these letters from home, they were very anxious, and they kept urging Xiang Yu to go back to deal with Peng Yue, describing the battle in the rear as infinitely urgent.

At this juncture, Xiang Yu is also very contradictory. He is determined to fight Liu Bang, but he is also worried about his beautiful concubines, his gold, silver and jewelry... The key is that the food road is broken, and the Chu army has no intention of going outside now. He fell in love with the Han army. After some thought, Xiang Yu ordered his army back to attack Peng Yue.Peng Yue still used the old method of running away if he couldn't beat him.Xiang Yu repelled Peng Yue, and he didn't take advantage of it.He didn't know that he would never have the opportunity and strength to fight Liu Bang again.So far, the balance of victory in the Chu-Han dispute has quietly tilted towards Liu Bang's side.

Liu Bang took advantage of Xiang Yu's opportunity to fight back against Peng Yue, and successfully occupied Chenggao again.A strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao resolved the biggest crisis of the Han army.The victory in this round was the result of the collective wisdom and efforts of Liu Bang's advisers. In this regard, it shows that he is indeed a "employer". Behind a successful emperor, there are countless counselors...