Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty-Two

The Chu army fell into the quagmire of Qi State. Food was robbed and soldiers were attacked. Ji Bu said: "According to the captives, Tian Heng, Prime Minister of Qi, is still alive. He plans to support his son Guang as King of Qi and continue to resist!" Long Qi said: "Where there are leftovers and cold meat, there are flies. If I burn these cities to nothing, will all the rebels in the city be pitted? Can the annoying flies still exist?" Xiang Yu said: "Since the Qi people themselves don't want peace, then they should be killed! For those who are ungrateful, they need to be taught with blood and fire! Besides, they don't understand other languages! I want to completely smash the people of Qi. Revolt, to tell the world that this is the end for anyone who is an enemy of others. Starting tomorrow, everyone will lead their own troops and destroy the rebels city by city!"

Ji Bu was very shocked when he heard this, and quickly waved his hands: "Never divide the troops! Don't fall into Tian Heng's tricks! Don't do it, my lord!" Xiang Yu said: "General Bu, you don't need to say too much, my widow has already issued an order, and it must not be changed! My lords, any city that dares to fight against our army will be killed without mercy! No prisoners will be left alive!" Peng Yuelai defected to Liu Bang, but he came very forcefully, almost yelling and saying: "I came here this time, and I brought a total of 30,000 soldiers, all of whom are soldiers who have been fighting all the year round. As long as you add more weapons and horses to me, those Chu troops will have nothing to fear."

Liu Bang said sincerely: "Okay, our army needs a general like you. I will definitely satisfy the request you just made." Peng Yue said: "Just hurry up, my people can't be idle! If we don't kill people for a few days, we will be suffocated." Zhang Liang hurriedly said: "Don't worry, General Peng, we are clear about your requirements. Please go and rest first, Hanwang will arrange supplies with you soon." Peng Yue said relentlessly: "Don't forget that!" Then he walked away carelessly. In Liu Bang's military tent, everyone was discussing the situation on the battlefield again.

Xia Houying said: "Chen Yu is too rude to make such a condition to the King of Han, and he will only agree to form an alliance after killing Zhang Er. Doesn't he want the King of Han to fall into an unrighteous situation?" Zhang Liang said: "If we want to kill Zhang Er and get Chen Yu, will such a choice give us a greater advantage?" Liu Bangdao: "That's right. Now that we are fighting, there is no real benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and some are just to gain a greater advantage and defeat the opponent." Zhang Liang said: "That's exactly the case. Now it is very urgent for us to win the support of Zhao Guo, and Zhao Guo is controlled by him and Chen Yu. Using Zhang Er's head in exchange for Chen Yu's surrender means that we have won Zhao Guo, this is a good deal."

Liu Bang said: "After all, he was my eldest brother, so it's a bit unruly to do so?" Zhang Liangdao: "In the old days, Zhang Er had soldiers and generals, and he was an ally worthy of alliance. Now the sword is no more than one handle, and the horse is no more than one horse. When attacking Xiang Yu, when using troops, do you want a king with a name? Zhao's army. Please think twice, Your Majesty." After Zhang Liang finished speaking, he turned around to go out, but Liu Bang stopped him suddenly: "Slow down! Kill!" During Liu Bang's night banquet for Zhang Er, Zhang Liang led a group of black-clothed knives and axes to ambush outside the tent, waiting for Liu Bang toss the cup as a sign, then rushed in and killed Zhang Er.

After drinking for three rounds, Liu Bang took the jug, picked up his own wine bottle, walked up to Zhang Er, poured wine for him, and the two drank together.Liu Bang looked at Zhang Er, raised the wine bottle in his right hand, and was about to drop it, but Zhang Er held on to Liu Bang's left hand and said: "When the big brother's troops arrive, please let me be the vanguard to destroy Chen Yu." Liu Bang was taken aback, his right hand froze. Zhang Er said: "Chen Yu is an ungrateful villain. Although the world is big, only the King of Han and I can see his true face. Brother admires your wisdom!"

Liu Bang asked with a smile: "Brother, do you still have soldiers and horses?" Zhang Er said: "I have secretly sold all my property and gathered more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. I am coming here. The King of Han does not know that although Chen Yu occupies Zhao State now, he has a lot of troops. But Zhang Er I have been Prime Minister of Zhao State for many years, which city does not know me Zhang Er, and which village does not support Zhang Er? This time I was attacked by Chen Yu, and if I fight again, I will be smashed to pieces." Liu Bangshun said: "What elder brother said is very true. In the future, I will definitely help you and avenge you."

Zhang Er said excitedly: "No need! As soon as my troops arrive, Zhang Er will go out immediately." Enraged, he threw the wine bottle to the ground heavily, and said: "Eat its flesh, sleep its skin!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Liang rushed in with a knife and axe in his hands. Zhang Er was startled and said, "Does the King of Han want to kill me?" The knife and ax held the sword in his hand and chopped at Zhang Er. Liu Bang drew his sword to hold him back, and kicked the knife and ax away with his head, cursing: "Zhang Liang! What the hell are you doing?"

The swordsman was confused, so he quickly turned around and asked, "Sir, what's the matter? Wasn't it an order from the King of Han?" Zhang Er looked at them coldly, without saying a word. Zhang Liang had already reacted, and hurriedly said, "That's right! I passed on the king's decree falsely. Zhang Er will take his life!" As Zhang Liang drew his sword, he was about to chop off Zhang Er. Liu Bang ordered: "Take it!" The swordsmen immediately surrounded Zhang Liang! Zhang Er asked, "Why did Sir kill me?" Zhang Liang deliberately said: "The King of Han has an old relationship with you, and he pities you. But to take you in is to make him an enemy of Zhao. As the king's counselor, how can I see that the king will mislead the world because of old love." He pushed the knife and axe away Hand, swing the sword and chop again.

Zhang Er didn't avoid it, but just looked directly at Zhang Liang. Liu Bang scolded: "Presumptuous!" Then he stood sideways in front of Zhang Er, took Zhang Liang's sword in his hand and said, "Zhang Er is my eldest brother, as close as brother and foot. As a counselor of the widow, I don't share the worries of the widow, and falsely pass on the king's decree." , wanting to cut off my siblings. It’s an unforgivable crime! Come and tie me up!” The knives and axes want to tie Zhang Liang. Zhang Er said: "Wait a minute! What this gentleman said has his own reasons. Chen Yu and I cannot share the glory of the sun and the moon. In the final analysis, whether to kill or not is up to you." He put his hands on On Liu Bang's shoulder, he continued to say: "Brother's head is here. If you want, you can chop it off at any time. Big brother won't even hum." After finishing speaking, he walked out smartly shaking his hands.

After a while, Zhang Liang let out a breath. Liu Bangdao: "If you hadn't been quick-witted, sir, you would have almost ruined a major event." Since Zhang Er couldn't be killed, and Chen Yu's request had to be met, Liu Bang sent people to the prison, picked a death row prisoner who looked like Zhang Er, beheaded, and delivered it to the envoy to Chen Yu. In this way, Chen Yu persuaded Zhao Wangxie to form an alliance with Liu Bang, and Liu Bang became the leader of the 560,000 Chu coalition forces overnight... Outside the large tent of the Hanying Central Army, a sign of "Punishment by God" was hung high. In the big banner, in the camp, all the princes from all walks of life are bustling together, and the headquarters of the Chu Chu coalition army headed by Liu Bang has been formed.Liu Bang happily sang wine and sang with allies and subordinates of the princes.Everyone was already drunk, stumbling around and making noises. Liu Bang said in a loud voice: "Everyone! Come on! I will have a high-level meeting with the kings and princes today. If you don't get drunk, you won't return!" Everyone said in unison: "If you don't get drunk, you won't return!" Everyone was noisy and lively.Han Xin seemed to hate such a scene, drank a few sips of mulled wine, got up and left. Wei Wangbao put his arms around Bo Ji, raised his wine cup, and was eager to speak. Liu Bang was talking with Wang Ling, so anxiously, Wei Wang shouted: "Han Wang! Han Wang... Hey! Liu Bang!" Fan Kui said angrily, "My king's name is taboo, you call it casually! You should respect our king! Now we are leading you to fight. If it weren't for our Han army, you Wei Bao would have died long ago!" Bo Ji said: "Presumptuousness, only scholars and doctors can speak out to the king! You, a general in charge, dare to shout at my king, and you will be punished with death!" Fan Kuai said: "There is no room for women to speak here!" At this time, Bo Ji faced Liu Bang and said, "Dare to ask the King of Han, is this your subordinate? Are you the one who controls you like this?" Hearing this, Liu Bang was not angry, but instead looked at Bo Ji with a kind of appreciation, and said, "They are all my own people, how could this happen! Fan Kuai, I can see clearly here, it is your fault, hurry up King Wei apologizes!" Fan Kuai was dissatisfied, but he couldn't do it right now, so he took up his wine bottle and apologized to King Wei.But Bo Ji on the other side refused to follow, stopped Fan Kuai and said, "I'm still here." Fan Kuai said: "Even if I have made thousands of mistakes, even if I deserve to be hacked into pieces, there is absolutely no reason to admit my mistakes to a woman!" Bo Ji said: "The King of Han, did you hear what he said?" Liu Bang was looking at Bo Ji with his eyes at this time. Hearing her question, he hurriedly stepped forward and smiled at Bo Ji, "I heard it. Since Fan Kui refuses to admit his mistake, then I will confess and pay you for this crime." Bo Ji said: "Sure enough, the King of Han is magnanimous, so how are you going to admit your mistake?" Liu Bang said: "Well, I will recognize what my wife wants me to do." Bo Ji said: "I dare not." Liu Bang bowed to Bo Ji and said, "Ma'am, people say Husband Wei, but in my opinion, Madam can be called Mrs. Wei. I, Liu Bang, will make amends for you." After finishing speaking, Liu Bangman drank a glass of wine, still staring at Bo Ji and looking up and down. Bo Ji smiled sweetly, turned around and returned to Wei Bao's side. Seeing that the time had come, Xia Houying hurriedly smoothed things over: "Today is a happy day for the kings, so it's not easy to make mistakes. Let me sing and dance for everyone to cheer up the wine!" So Xia Houying and a few men immediately jumped off the empty field and did the monkey bathing dance, which was a dance imitating hunting dogs chasing monkeys.Xia Houying wrapped her head with a scarf, imitating the panicked appearance of a working woman in the field when she saw a monkey, raised her hands and swayed her hips, making everyone laugh.Peng Yue rose up, jumped up, and danced with Xia Houying.The two people shook their arms and clapped their hands, each showing their dancing posture. Zhang Liang watched and smiled. Li Shiqi shook his head and said contemptuously, "How decent is the barbarian dance!" Liu Bang raised his glass from time to time and looked at Bo Ji.Bo Ji was also looking at him. Han Xin set up a pocket, on the one hand, besieged Pengcheng and attacked it fiercely; on the other hand, he ambushed the main force on the place where Xiang Yu must pass through when he came back to rescue, waiting for an ambush.However, both Fan Zeng in Pengcheng and Xiang Yu outside Pengcheng saw through this plan. Xiang Yu did not come back directly to save the city, and Fan Zeng also began to retreat from Pengcheng in a planned way. In this way, under the notice of the rebellion against the king, after being wronged and divided into the barren land of Bashu for a year, taking advantage of Xiang Yu's conquest in Qi, Liu Bang led the Han army and various princes, and entered the battle. Pengcheng, the capital of Western Chu.The victory came so suddenly, the soldiers of the Han army who had not returned home for a long time and were wronged, together with the greedy allied forces of the princes, instantly pulled the capital full of fine wine, treasures and beauties into a carnival. The Bawang Palace in Pengcheng is brightly lit!Liu Bang was holding fine wine, wearing a silk robe, walking with two or three beautiful ladies in the arms, talking endlessly, obviously trying to convince others, but in fact he was convincing himself: "It's been more than a year, I'm I live with a lamp of humiliation bestowed on me by your king! Day and night I keep my armor on, why? Isn’t it just for such a night, drinking your king’s fine wine and embracing your king? My little girl, come and wash away the humiliation from me?!" As he spoke, he dragged a beautiful woman into the depths of the curtain. Zhang Liang went to find Fan Kui and Zhou Bo, walked into the mansion which was a temporary barracks, and found that they were also drinking and messing around. Zhang Liang frowned in disgust and walked over. Fan Kui and Zhou Bo jumped up when they saw Zhang Liang, and tried to persuade him to drink. Zhang Liang calmly refused, and only called Fan Kui aside and said, "The general believes that this battle will not be successful. Hurting the main force of the Chu army, it is too easy to win, I am afraid something will happen. I hope someone can persuade the king of Han." Fan Kuai stared and said, "Is it me? Is it me again?" Zhang Liang smiled wryly: "Yes, just like in Xianyang. However, this time it's much more serious, life and death are at stake, Bawang won't hold another Hongmen Banquet again." Fan Kuai immediately understood the urgency of the matter, and said: "Please rest assured, sir, I will go immediately!"