Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Xiang Yu is exhausted

Although Fan Zeng was successfully removed from Xiang Yu's camp, the siege of Xingyang became more serious, and the food in the city was exhausted. Liu Bang must try to escape from Xingyang.But to escape from the tightly surrounded city, someone needs to be willing to sacrifice.At such a time, there are indeed people who are willing to die for him. This is Liu Bang's unique advantage, and it also proves that he treats people well. Liu Bang never forgot to treat the survivors of the victims generously.His subordinates knew this and were willing to serve him.Xiang Yu, on the other hand, was overconfident and often attributed all the credit to himself. Therefore, even if someone sacrificed for him, he seldom felt grateful.This point can be said to be the key to the success or failure of the Chu-Han dispute.

When Liu Bang escaped from Xingyang, it was a general named Ji Xin who voluntarily expressed his willingness to die. One night, two thousand armed soldiers of the Han army, including women, came out of the city from the east gate.Of course, Xiang Yu's Chu army immediately swarmed up from all sides.At this moment, the generals who came out of the city suddenly separated from the left and right, and a yellow-covered cart made a rumbling sound and drove past the middle.On the left side of the vehicle was a flag with the shape of a yak's tail. The yellow-covered car covered with yellow silk cloth is the emperor's carriage, and the tail of the yak is the emperor's flag.

"Because the food in the city is exhausted, the King of Han surrenders here!" shouted a servant beside the yellow-covered chariot. Upon hearing these words, the Chu army burst into thunderous cheers. "The king of Han has surrendered!" "Liu Bang came out and surrendered!" The cheers of the generals of the Chu army outside the east gate soon spread throughout the entire army. "What? The king of Han surrendered?" "I heard it came out from the east gate." "Go! How can you miss such an important scene!" The surrender of the King of Han was a major turning point in history. Even if a person lives a hundred years old, he may not be able to witness such a scene.

The generals of the whole army rushed to the east gate. Taking advantage of the chaos, Liu Bang led only dozens of cavalry and managed to escape from Ximen. Many people who wanted to witness the historic scene flocked around the yellow-covered cart. "Retreat quickly! Retreat! Or you will kill someone!" The general of Xiang Yu's bodyguard waved his sword, asking the crowd to give way so that Xiang Yu's car could pass. ——Liu Bang came to surrender. Hearing this report, Xiang Yu shook his body and laughed loudly: "This bastard, I will cut off his head! It is a well-deserved crime for a lowly person to assume the title of king!"

So he grabbed his saber, stepped out of his car, took two steps, then turned to Yu Ji and said, "You also come to see it!" "But, in this kind of situation, I..." Yu Ji lowered her head.She has followed Xiang Yu through countless battlefields, but she has always been in the innermost part of the formation, and has never witnessed a bloody battle scene.She was born in Pinghe Water Town in Kuaiji, and she was naturally afraid of the bloody storm in the war. When she saw the blood sprayed out when the head was cut off, she would faint on the spot, right?Thinking of this, she couldn't help trembling all over.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, come on!" Xiang Yu said. This is an order.Xiang Yu wanted Yu Ji to see her majestic appearance.He wants his lover to witness his own power, so that she will be more submissive to him in the future.This kind of showing-off mentality is no different from that of a child, and Yu Ji dare not disobey him. "Yes, Your Majesty, I'll come right away." Yuji replied.Although she was not happy, she had to obey the order. "come here now!" "yes……" It is absolutely unacceptable to provoke Xiang Yu to lose his temper.Yu Ji followed Xiang Yu as fast as she could.But the woman's footsteps were slow after all, and she couldn't catch up with him immediately.Therefore, it took her some time before she followed Xiang Yu into the car.After arriving outside the east gate, it took a lot of time to get the crowd out of the way.

Zhang Liang, the military strategist of the Han army, had already taken these into account. The Han army using doubles took advantage of the chaos and escaped from the city gate in the opposite direction. However, if this trick was revealed too early, they might be caught up by King Xiang's pursuers.So the sooner the truth comes out the better. —— On this point, Zhang Liang pinned his hopes on the crowd watching the excitement. The lively audience did not disappoint Zhang Liang. After finally getting to the front of the yellow-covered car, Xiang Yu sat down cross-legged on the carpet laid by the attendant, and asked Yu Ji to sit beside him.

"Liu Bang! I want you to crawl out!" Xiang Yu yelled at the yellow door curtain.But the door curtain didn't even move.General Ji Xin, who was sitting in the imperial chariot, hoped that his master Liu Bang would run as far away as possible.He didn't dare to get out of the car immediately because he was afraid of death, but was deliberately delaying time for Liu Bang. "The matter has come to this, why are you still dragging your feet! Come out! Maybe you were afraid of death and passed out in the car! I'm not in the mood to chat with you here, come on! Lift the curtain and drag Liu Bang out!" Xiang Yu ordered loudly.

Three guards rushed forward.One of them, probably because he had followed Xiang Yu for a long time, had infected his violent temper, so instead of opening the door curtain, he tore it apart.The people in the car were there, their heads bowed. "Come out! You mole-covered guy!" The guards grabbed the fake Liu Bang, Ji Xin, by the hair on the back of his neck, and dragged him out of the car. There are seventy-two sunspots on the left thigh. As recorded in "Historical Records", it is widely known that Liu Bang has many moles on his body. After Ji Xin was dragged out, he still kept his head down. He even prostrated himself on the ground—as soon as he raised his head, Xiang Yu would find that he was not Liu Bang.Buying as long as possible before being exposed was his greatest desire at the moment.

"You haven't seen Liu Bang's face, have you?" Xiang Yu turned to Yu Ji and said. At this moment, Xiang Yu was completely intoxicated by the superiority of the winner.How pleasant is the decisive moment of victory - he is not willing to enjoy it all at once, such pleasure should be enjoyed slowly, anyway, the opponent cannot escape.Those with the foresight like Zhang Liang did not take this into account, which can be said to be extra earned. "Yes, I've never seen his face." Yuji replied. "This guy has a slender face and a big nose..." Xiang Yu said.

Long Zhun and Long Yan. "Historical Records" describes Liu Bang's appearance in this way. "Long Zhun" means a high nose, and "Long Yan" means a slender face. "Now I'll show you his big nose. Lift up Liu Bang's head!" Xiang Yu said happily. "Yes! As ordered!" The guards grabbed Ji Xin's hair with one hand, and lifted his chin with the other hand, pulling his face up. The man whose face was pulled up by force had a flat nose. "What?" In an instant, Xiang Yu's eyes were hanging from his eyes, and his face was flushed. "Where... where did Liu Bang go?" Xiang Yu stammered out of anger. "The King of Han has already left the city. Ha! Ha! Ha!" Ji Xin laughed loudly. "Burn this guy to death!" Xiang Yu stood up angrily, spitting on the ground while hurriedly walking towards his car. This is tantamount to being insulted in front of the public.How could Xiang Yu, who has a strong self-esteem, endure this scene?He wanted to hide in the car and leave this place. At this moment, he has nothing else on his mind, including his beloved Concubine Yu. He's the kind of person who puts himself first. Liu Bang, who finally escaped from Xingyang City, headed south all the way.At the beginning, there were only a few dozen horsemen, and they kept taking in local miscellaneous generals along the way.This can be said to be due to Liu Bang's virtue. Be benevolent and love others, love to give. Liu Bang, described in "Historical Records", is very loved because of his generosity. In the south where he was defeated, there were tattooed cloth troops everywhere, which was also beneficial to Liu Bang.Although Ying Bu was not Liu Bang's direct subordinate, he was Wu Rui's son-in-law who had a deal with Xu Fu, so he had a long history with Zhang Liang. Moreover, Ying Bu's family who once betrayed Xiang Yu was killed by Xiang Yu. The world has been clearly divided into Chu and Han.Except for Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, no one can dominate the world.So it's an alternative environment.Those who angered Xiang Yu and killed his family had no choice but to turn to Liu Bang. Driven by emotion, Xiang Yu, who has always adopted retaliation, is tantamount to adding reinforcements to the enemy.It was only then that Liu Bang's feathers were plucked, but the other party soon plumped up again.This feather is actually a gift from Xiang Yu. Liu Bang fled to the south of Wan and Ye (Nanyang City, Henan Province).Of course Xiang Yu immediately took pursuit action. At this time, Peng Yue, a bandit general who was a fisherman, took advantage of Xiang Yu's absence to attack Xiapi (Jiangsu Province) and defeated Xiang Yu's cousin Xiang Sheng's army. "Damn bandits!" Furious, Xiang Yu hurriedly led his troops back. Although Peng Yue successfully attacked while breaking through the empty door, he was helpless when facing Xiang Yu's main force, and was quickly beaten and fled. This gave Liu Bangjun not only a chance to breathe, but also went north to attack Chenggao City.Xingyang City, which was surrounded before, is also under the occupation of Liu Bang's generals Zhou Ke and Conggong.Chenggao City is more than ten kilometers northwest of Xingyang. Xiang Yu, who defeated Peng Yue's army, returned to the west again. This time Xiang Yu captured Xingyang, which had been besieged for a long time, in one go.Although Zhou Ke who defended the city was a brave general, he couldn't resist Xiang Yu's onslaught. Xiang Yu, who never forgave the residents and soldiers who stubbornly resisted, treated the brave generals differently.Xiang Yu, who longed for a brave general, admired Zhou Ke's command when he was defending the city, so he said to Zhou Ke who had become a prisoner: "How about you become a general under my command? I will appoint you as the general and seal you As the lord of 30,000 households." Regarding this, Zhou Ke said proudly: "You have time to persuade me to surrender, why not quickly consider how to surrender to the King of Han. You are not an opponent of the King of Han at all. If you don't make this decision immediately, you will definitely become a prisoner of the King of Han in the future!" "Damn it!" Originally intending to spare his life and promote him, Xiang Yu was furious when he heard the words, and ordered on the spot, "Put this guy in the pot and cook!" Xiang Yu, who captured Xingyang, immediately turned to Chenggao nearby to encircle him.Liu Bang called his staff and held a meeting in the city. "What should we do?" "It's best to keep Xiang Yu exhausted. Xiang Yu is a very impatient person, so using this strategy is the best strategy for him." Zhang Liang said. This means, try to avoid direct confrontation.Liu Bang then escaped from Chenggao City, crossed the Yellow River and fled north.There are Zhang Er and Han Xin's troops on the north side of the Yellow River.No matter where he fled, he would have his own army to support him. This was Liu Bang's greatest asset. Liu Bang avoided the decisive battle and let Lu Wan, Liu Jia and others disturb Xiang Yu's rear.Of course the defeated bandit general Peng Yue also participated in this guerrilla operation. Xiang Yu could only move around, tired of chasing the enemy, eager to defeat them one by one, but these were local guerrilla forces, and he was still unable to win a decisive victory. Although they won all battles, they could not triumph. "Don't focus on repeated defeats. After ninety-nine defeats, it is enough to win the final decisive battle." Zhang Liang often emphasized this point. One victory after ninety-nine defeats—a general who has this concept will not be discouraged even if he loses a battle. Xiang Yu, who managed to capture Chenggao with great difficulty, had to hand over the city to the care of Grand Sima Cao Jiu, while he himself turned to the east in order to attack Peng Yue. "I will come back after 15 days to destroy those rat thieves. If the Han army comes to challenge, you must not fight. Do you know? You must endure for 15 days!" After repeatedly explaining to Cao Jiu, Xiang Yu marched eastward.But Cao Jiu did not endure fifteen days.In fact, it was not that Cao Jiu was impatient, but that the Han army was good at provoking battles. Cao Jiu was lured out, and while crossing the Si River, he was attacked by the Han army, and the Chu army was wiped out.Chang Shi Xin, who was surrendered by Qin Gui to Xiang Yu's command, committed suicide by the Sishui River at this time. The Han army continued to advance and surrounded the Chu army to the east of Xingyang. Xiang Yu, who had headed east to attack Peng Yue, heard the news of Cao Jiu's defeat. His anger rose for a moment, and he immediately led his entire army back west. When Xiang Yu's army came to the vicinity of Xingyang with raging waves, the Han army that had originally deployed here disappeared without a trace. This is the way of fighting that was originally planned.The Han army hid in the assigned dangerous places, preparing for the final battle.