Chapter 226 Preparations for War
Xiang Yu was not familiar with Luo Ling, because the one who had always been in contact with Luo Ling was Xiang Liang. However, Xiang Yu knew that Luo Ling thought highly of him and praised him many times for having the aura of a sage king.
Luo Ling sat under the tree, looking at the heroic Xiang Yu, feeling a little regretful. Xiang Liang was like a scabbard, which could keep Xiang Yu's extremely sharp sword in the scabbard and prevent him from showing its edge wantonly and hurting himself by accident.
"Have you finished talking to Lord Chu? Come and sit down."
Luo Ling greeted Xiang Yu. He was almost ten years older than Xiang Yu, which made him half his elder.
Xiang Yu was quite respectful to Luo Ling, not only because of Luo's status, but mainly because Luo Ling was quite friendly to him. Upon hearing this, he sat opposite Luo Ling and saluted, saying, "Lord Luo."
Luo Ling pondered and said, "Now that Duke Chu has passed away, you are the new Duke Chu. I believe all the princes in the meeting will recognize you."
After Xiang Liang's death, it was very important for Xiang Yu to face the princes with what kind of attitude. He was not as prestigious as Xiang Liang, and his prestige was not enough to unify the power of Chu. He needed a strong person to support him.
Luo Ling's words were to tell Xiang Yu that he would fully support Xiang Yu and that he could then start contacting the Chu forces under Xiang Liang.
"The dead are gone, and the living must move forward. The Luo family and the Xiang family both have great hatred for the Qin State, so they should be brave enough to take the lead and overthrow the tyrannical Qin State.
You are a natural born military leader and the only one to destroy the Qin Dynasty. This is the mission given to you by Haotian and King Su. When you have made unprecedented achievements, you will be able to become the common ruler of the world in broad daylight in front of the people of the world.
By then, all the ancestors of the Xiang family will be proud of you, and Duke Chu will be able to rest in peace."
Luo Ling's words almost touched Xiang Yu's heart. Xiang Yu gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, Lord Luo. I know the priorities. Now is the critical period to destroy Qin. I will not drag my feet. I brought the troops back this time because I heard that Zhang Han was brave and the heroes of Shandong could not control him.
For more than 800 years, the Xiang family has always faced challenges head-on. In the past, when the State of Wu destroyed the capital Ying, our ancestor protected the king and the queen mother and died bravely. When Bai Qi flooded Jingchu, our ancestor fought with his life.
Even though Ji is not as talented as our ancestors, he still has the ability to disregard life and death. The reputation of the Xiang family will not be buried in Ji's hands."
What Xiang Yu was most proud of in his life was his family background. He was really too proud. He wanted to fight for the highest honor in the world for the Xiang family. He did not take the Qin State seriously. The only family he looked up to was the Luo family.
Luo Ling nodded secretly. He liked Xiang Yu's ambition the most. He crossed his arms and saluted, saying, "Duke Chu, may the King of Su be with you."
Xiang Yu was startled. This was the first time Luo Ling used a respectful title for him, and he directly called him Duke Chu. Xiang Yu reacted and also crossed his hands and said, "May the Su King be with me."
…
After Xiang Liang's death, the princes of Chu State were in great grief, and it was really unbelievable. Chu State was about to take control of the world, and they, the nobles of Chu State, were about to rise with the tide, but they did not expect to suffer such a heavy blow suddenly.
Xiang Liang's death not only affected himself, but also caused casualties to the Chu army. Although there were still a large number of young men willing to join the army in the former Chu territory, especially in the core area of Jiangdong, the Xiang family loved these Jiangdong men very much and always trained them before going to the battlefield.
This would result in the Chu State being powerless for at least a year, with only the Chu Army under Xiang Yu's command to rely on.
When Luo Ling and Xiang Yu walked in, they were faced with the Chu nobles who were in a state of sorrow. When they saw Luo Ling coming in, they all stood up and saluted. Luo Ling said directly: "Gentlemen, before Chu Gong Liang passed away, he entrusted me to let Xiang Yu inherit the position of the head of the Xiang family. I call him Chu Gong."
Luoling addressed Xiang Yu as Duke of Chu, which was an acknowledgement that Xiang Yu had inherited Xiang Liang's position among the Shandong heroes. If they were unwilling to submit to Xiang Yu, it would be a disrespect to Luoling.
Everyone looked at the awe-inspiring Xiang Yu and exchanged glances with each other. Now the State of Chu had suffered a severe setback, with only tens of thousands of Chu troops under Xiang Yu's command left as the most elite. If they did not give face to Luo Ling and did not follow Xiang Yu's footsteps, they would have no status not only among the princes of Shandong, but even in the State of Chu.
So everyone bowed to Xiang Yu and said, "Greetings, Duke of Chu!"
Xiang Yu, who was receiving the worship from the crowd, was not very happy, but said directly: "I saw that you were all sighing just now, probably because of the previous failure.
But Ji wanted to say that it was just a small failure and was not worth sighing over.
A thousand years ago, the State of Chu was just a vassal state. Our ancestors worked hard to open up the mountains and forests, and conquered 5,000 miles of land one stroke at a time.
Now we have two thousand miles of fertile land in Jiangdong and millions of people. Do we still need to fear the tyranny of Qin?
If we fail, we can just fight again. We have finally achieved the current results, are we going to give them up?
If we retreat now, who will avenge the Jiangdong people? Who will avenge the many Chu people who died at the hands of the tyrannical Qin?"
These words made everyone blush. Long Qie was a rather stubborn person and said immediately: "Lord Chu, I am willing to follow you and fight against the Qin army. Please stop talking."
Xiang Yu walked up to him, patted him heavily and said, "Good! This is a good man of Chu. My uncle often mentioned you to me, saying that you are good at fighting and a rare talent in Chu. When we attack Zhang Han, you will be my deputy."
Luo Ling stood quietly aside. He spoke very little and spent most of his time observing, observing everything and everyone he could see. This was one of the fundamentals of his ability to plan everything.
…
Xiang Yu had 20,000 elite Chu troops, plus the defeated troops gathered by the Chu nobles and the troops left to Xiang Yu by Xiang Liang, the total number of Chu troops was 80,000. As the Chu army began to gather again, the clouds of war once again gathered over Handan County.
Xiang Yu and Luo Ling stayed together. In Luo Ling's script, the protagonist of this war was naturally Xiang Yu, the military leader, and the elite Chu army he led. His responsibility was to force Zhang Han to a decisive battle.
In fact, as a natural commander, Xiang Yu clearly said when he came to Zhao, "Since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, Zhang Han is best at defense. Even when attacking, he uses the method of feigning defeat to lure the enemy deep into our territory. Therefore, if you want to win, you must fight him head-on.
Ji is a man of unrivalled courage, and is best at frontal battles. However, if you want to force Zhang Han to fight, you have to cut off his food supply and reinforcements, and that's what you, Lord Luo, need to do."
Luo Ling nodded and said, "Great minds think alike. Lord Chu said exactly what I want to do. The princes have already arrived around Zhang Han and are starting to harass Zhang Han's food supply route as planned. In a few months at most, Zhang Han will not be able to hold out and will have a head-on battle with us."
Among all the princes in Shandong, only Xiang Liang and Luo Ling have the prestige to command the princes, but Xiang Liang is not capable enough, so Luo Ling is appointed as the commander-in-chief. Now is the time for the alliance to play its role.
In this war, the person who was under the greatest pressure was of course Xiang Yu, because neither the harassment of the food supply route nor the small-scale battles would affect the overall situation. These things were like tests before the big exam, and ultimately it would all come down to the final battle.
If they cannot defeat Zhang Han in the final decisive battle on the front battlefield, then all the previous efforts will be in vain and even become a joke.
Battle reports were sent to Luo Ling one after another. Commanding so many soldiers from different princes at the same time was a test for anyone, especially adjusting tactical and strategic goals according to changes in the situation. Even Luo Ling felt a little bit of pressure.
Zhang Han obviously felt the change in the situation. He was a man of true genius. Throughout the era when many heroes emerged, there were not many who could defeat him. As the Shandong princes toured around Zhao, he certainly understood that he had become a thorn in the eyes of the Shandong princes.
But Zhang Han was not afraid, instead he said cheerfully to his attendants: "When I was the Minister of the Imperial Household, did I ever think that one day I would be able to stir up the world like I am now?
Your Majesty has made me a king. The country of Qin rests on my shoulders. This must be the highest honor for a subject.
Defeating these rebels, killing them and bringing their heads back to Xianyang will surely shock the world, and with the sword in my hand, I will bring peace to the Qin Empire."
Zhang Han was full of confidence, but he was overwhelmed by the news of attacks on his grain routes. These actions could not defeat him directly, and if he wanted, he could retreat directly to Xingyang, which was a large granary. Of course, he would not do that.
It is precisely because of this that Zhang Han felt very puzzled by the behavior of Luo Ling and others. This was a completely thankless task. It was not like when Bai Qi annihilated the Zhao army. There were mountains all around, and once the food supply was cut off, they would not be able to escape.
Zhang Han could take his army away at any time. After much thought, he came to a conclusion that was a little unbelievable to him. "Do these rebels in Shandong want to have another big battle? Are they forcing me to fight them?"
It was no wonder that Zhang Han found it hard to believe. He really didn't know why the Shandong states were so confident. The Chu army had just suffered a great defeat, and the Zhao army had also suffered heavy losses. Normally, they would at least have to reorganize their armies and restore their strength.
It has only been less than a month, and it is absolutely impossible for them to recover their strength. But they are actually starting another war directly. They are simply crazy.
How could he know that Luo Ling and Xiang Yu were already eager to kill him, and then headed west, not willing to waste even a single moment of time.
Instead, Zhang Han was somewhat hesitant as to whether or not to engage in direct battle again. While hesitating, he began to organize his army to wipe out those Shandong princes who were involved in harassing the grain route.
Zhang Han was an expert at fighting the rebel army. Basically, all the factions suffered a lot of losses, but Luo Ling's goal was still being steadily achieved, because no one dared to disobey Luo Ling's orders at this time. Luo Ling almost used the toughest tone to declare the importance of this war to everyone.
————
Zhang Han was a seriously underestimated commander. People of his time praised him as "the second to Bai Qi". The ancients never omitted him when evaluating famous generals, which was enough to prove his talent.
He was born when the Qin Dynasty was about to fall. He defeated countless uprisings in Shandong and almost revived the Qin Dynasty. However, fate did not favor him. His opponents were Xiang Yu and Luo Ling, who were extremely powerful in the entire history. This was a doomed failure. - "The Fall of the Empire: Qin"
(End of this chapter)
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