Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Disappeared in Wujiang

The place where Xiang Yu and his men raised their troops was Wu, where Xiang Liang had once fled for his life.This is the place in the south of the Yangtze River in the area of ​​Suzhou and Shanghai today.Gaixia is in the southeast of what is now Lingbi County, Anhui Province.Therefore, to escape from Gaixia and return to the old place, one must go southeast.Taking advantage of the darkness, Xiang Yu galloped all the way to the southeast.There is a Tang River to the east of Gaixia, and Xiang Yu probably descended along this river. The Han army headquarters didn't realize that Xiang Yu had escaped until dawn.Liu Bang immediately awarded 5,000 cavalry to Guan Ying, the cavalry general, to pursue him.

Xiang Yu and his party originally had 800 riders.Although this was carefully selected, the exhausted horses fell behind one by one due to the non-stop running.When crossing the Huai River, Xiang Yu had only about a hundred horsemen left beside him. The cavalry of the Han army gave chase. Xiang Yu ran all the way to the south without stopping, but got lost when he came near Yinling County. Yinling County belongs to Jiujiang County.The capital of Jiujiang County was Shouchun, and later Yinling was the capital of the county.This place is in the northwest of Dingyuan County, Anhui Province today, and the straight-line distance from Gaixia is about 100 kilometers.

"To get to Jiang (Yangtze River), how should I go?" Xiang Yu's cavalry asked a local farmer. "Go ahead to the left." The farmer replied. Follow the farmer's instructions to the left and you will come to the swamp.Unable to move forward, they turned back and headed east.This delay shortened the distance with the Han cavalry. Xiang Yu and his party finally came to Dongcheng County.According to the notes in "Hanshu Geography", this place is in the southeast of present-day Dingyuan County. When they arrived in Dongcheng County, there were only twenty-eight riders following Xiang Yu.

Five thousand cavalry of the Han army came in pursuit.Even if some of them left the team on the way, at least half of them caught up.With thousands of battles against twenty-eight, can it still be called a battle? Xiang Yu stopped his horse and said to the twenty-eight cavalrymen: "It has been eight years since I raised my troops. During this period, I have confronted the enemy more than seventy times. All my enemies have been defeated. I have never known what defeat is. My army I have always been an ever-victorious army, and I was able to rule the world as the overlord. But in the end, I was in such a difficult situation. Know how powerful I am. I will defeat the encirclement of the Han army for you, and cut down the enemy's flag. I will use this to prove that it is God's favor, not that I am incapable!"

Xiang Yu blamed everything on "Heaven". He divided the twenty-eight riders into four teams and prepared to flee in all directions.After the Han army caught up, they immediately surrounded the small army. "I'm here to get the head of the enemy general for you!" Xiang Yu shouted on horseback.He and his subordinates agreed that after breaking through the enemy's encirclement, they would meet up at three locations on the east side of the mountain, and then rush towards the Han army at a speed like a gust of wind. Due to the fierce approach, the Han army scattered in a hurry, which was equivalent to opening a way for him.Xiang Yu rushed forward and chopped down a Han general with one blow.

When Yang Xi, the general of the cavalry of the Han army, caught up with him from behind, Xiang Yu suddenly turned his horse's head and shouted, "Slave, what do you want!" At this time, Xiang Yu's eyes were bloodshot, and his appearance was fierce. "Wow……" Due to excessive fear, Yang Xi made a sound that neither screamed nor shouted.It wasn't just Yang Xi who was cowering on horseback, even his mount was trembling with fright, stood on tiptoe and immediately turned around, and leaped forward desperately.Xiang Yu's fierce aura at this time can be seen from this.

Xiang Yu and his party came to the agreed place separately, but the Han army did not know which one of them the leader Xiang Yu was.Therefore, the troops were divided into three, and the three groups were surrounded respectively. The 20 or so Chu soldiers who were surrounded immediately attacked and killed about a hundred Han soldiers with the momentum of sweeping thousands of troops.Xiang Yu also personally killed a Han general.In this melee, Xiang Yu's side lost only two cavalry. "I'm right!" Xiang Yu said. His own strength is definitely not weak - he has insisted on this from beginning to end.Having won seventy battles in a row, there is absolutely no reason why he is weak.Falling to this point is completely due to God's will.

"Yes, your Majesty is right!" All the subordinates knelt down and said respectfully. Xiang Yu then prepared to cross the Wujiang River in the east. "Historical Records" so recorded. Wujiang River is the land on the north bank of the Yangtze River. It is now a "village" under Wuwei County, just at the junction of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Therefore, this place is still quite a distance from Dongcheng County, where Xiang Yu and his party fought, at least a hundred kilometers away.The pursuit of the Han cavalry did not relax at all.Among the selected 800 riders, the more than 20 riders who did not leave the team but followed Xiang Yu to this place can indeed be called warriors who are worth one thousand.When they came to Dongcheng, there were still twenty-eight riders. Because two riders were lost there, the number at this moment is twenty-six.

Across the Yangtze River is Xiang Yu's hometown.Further south for more than 20 kilometers, we will arrive at today's Nanjing City. After the head of Wujiang Pavilion (post station) greeted Xiang Yu and his party, he immediately arranged a boat for them to cross to the other side.When you come here, the surrounding area is full of your own family. "Although Jiangdong is not big, it is also a place with a population of hundreds of thousands of miles (five or six hundred kilometers). Isn't it okay to be the king of this place? Please cross the river quickly! Don't worry, I am the only one in this area." Even if the Han army arrives, they will not be able to cross the river."

Xiang Yu smiled and replied: "Since the sky does not give me what it takes, what does it matter if I can't cross the river? I led eight thousand children from the east of the river to the west eight years ago, but now none of them survived. Even if I got Jiang Dong's elders agreed to make me king out of sympathy, do I still have the face to see them?... No, even if they don't say anything, can I still be worthy of them? This is impossible." Xiang Yu smiled with a gentle expression.It is Xiang Yu's style to be furious when angry, and to laugh when happy.Therefore, a gentle smile is a rare phenomenon for Xiang Yu.

Sure enough, a line of tears slipped from his right eye, down his cheek, and down his jaw.Even so, there was still a smile on his lips. After a while, Xiang Yu said seriously to Wujiang Pavilion: "For an elder like you, I feel sorry that I can't repay you, so please accept my beloved horse! This horse has been with me for five years. , I used to travel thousands of miles a day. I can't bear to let such a famous horse be killed in vain, please accept it!" "Your Majesty..." The pavilion chief didn't know what to say because he was so emotional. Xiang Yu then turned around and said loudly to his subordinates: "You all get off your horses too! Now let's have a hand-to-hand fight! After fighting to the exhaustion, you will be generous and go to justice, this is the true nature of a man!" Although the voice was loud, it didn't have Xiang Yu's usual commanding tone. The twenty-six subordinates all dismounted from their horses. They all rushed here from Dongcheng.The only survivors among the eight hundred elite riders—this proves that they are all brave men, and the credit of the steeds they ride cannot be ignored for being able to do so.Therefore, they couldn't bear to see their mounts killed, and their mood was no different from that of Xiang Yu. Warriors on horses—this group left the Han cavalry far away in a radius of about 100 kilometers from Dongcheng to Wujiang. But just like them fleeing desperately, the Han army chasing them worked very hard.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make meritorious deeds. The person who gets the head of Xiang Yu will get the status of a thousand taels of gold and a land lord of 10,000 households. Isn't such a reward enough to make people desperate for it? After Xiang Yu finished talking with the pavilion chief, the group of people who got off their horses took a short rest in order to prepare for the upcoming battle.Soon, dust rose up ahead, followed by the sound of horseshoes. Xiang Yu and the twenty-six warriors held their sword hilts, held their breath, and waited for the arrival of the Han cavalry. This is a hand to hand fight. "Historical Records" records: Xiang Yu swung his sword and killed hundreds of Han soldiers by himself.No matter how brave Xiang Yu is, this number is unbelievable. However, Xiang Yu's brave fighting on the banks of the Wujiang River seems to be true. During the bloody battle, Xiang Yu suffered more than ten wounds on his body, but he showed no signs of timidity.When he was using all his strength to slash and kill the enemy, he saw a person who seemed to have known him before. "Hey! I seem to have seen you somewhere... Oh, you are a stable boy!" Xiang Yu roared. This is Xiang Yu's former subordinate, and now he has become the Cavalry Sima of the Han Army, named Lu Matong. There are quite a few people who became officials in Chu and later turned to Han.Chu and Han belonged to the same camp in the past, so personnel exchanges are not uncommon.Take Chen Ping, who later became the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, as an example. He was Xiang Yu's retainer during the "Hongmen Banquet". "what……" For Lu Matong, this was a very embarrassing scene.He deliberately avoided Xiang Yu's gaze, turned his head, and said to Wang Yi behind him, "This man is King Xiang!" "Stable boy!" Xiang Yu roared loudly, "We are old acquaintances, so let me give you a chance to make meritorious service! I heard that Han rewarded my head with a thousand taels of gold and 10,000 households of land. His head is given to you, you can take it!" Xiang Yu stood in front of the stable boy with a mighty aura. Suddenly, he aimed the bloody sword held in his right hand at his throat, put his left hand behind the edge of the sword, and tilted his head back first, then suddenly forward. Fu Yu sword. This is the rule of self-determination of people at that time. Xiang Yu committed suicide according to the rules. The wide-eyed head rolled to the front, and then the body collapsed, covering the head. "Wow..." All the Han soldiers roared like beasts at the same time. In an instant, the cavalry of the Han army rushed towards Xiang Yu's remains from all directions. A thousand taels of gold is right in front of you! Lying on the ground in front of him is the territory of Wanhu! The Han soldiers fighting for Xiang Yu's remains immediately started fighting with each other.This is a miserable and ugly battle! Fighting back and forth, kicking and hitting each other, a scene where everyone is fighting to the death for their selfish desires. Wang Yi, who was informed by Lu Matong, took Xiang Yu's head first.According to the records of "Historical Records", the scene of people scrambling for the corpse is as follows: The rest of the cavalry trampled on the body of King Xiang Xiang, and dozens of people killed each other. The trampled body of Xiang Yu was finally torn into four pieces.Under such circumstances, even a warrior with incomparable divine power could not protect Xiang Yu's huge body from such an end. It was torn into four pieces because everyone grabbed Xiang Yu's hands and feet desperately and pulled each other violently.Of course, the people fighting for the corpse were all covered in blood. At this time, they were all like beasts, and no one would care. Together with the head, Xiang Yu's body is divided into five sections.Of course, the person with the most meritorious service was Wang Yi who picked up the first rank, so he was named Du Yanhou.Du Yan is a place name. Those who snatched part of the corpses were Lu Matong, who was once Xiang Yu's subordinate, Yang Xi, who was frightened by Xiang Yu's drink, and Lu Sheng and Yang Wu.Later, these four people were named Zhongshuihou, Chiquanhou, Nieyanghou and Wufanghou respectively. The twenty-six cavalry who followed Xiang Yu were all hacked to death by the Wujiang River. One thousand and fifty years later, in the middle of the ninth century, when Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, was visiting the ancient battlefield of Wujiang, he wrote a poem titled "Wujiang Pavilion": The poetic meaning is: victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, and the result is very unpredictable; if you lose a battle, you have to endure temporary humiliation, and this is the real man.What's more, there are quite a lot of talents in Jiangdong's children. If he had followed the advice of Wujiang Pavilion Chief at that time, he might have a chance to make a comeback. Xiang Yu only believes in his own strength, and he is unwilling to believe in the "talent" of Jiangdong's children.In the moment when he feels "I'm done," it's over.Even at this time, he was still shouting: "Death to me is not a crime of war!" The phrase "come back" comes from Du Mu's poem, which is hereby attached.