Chapter 231 The Grand Road to Becoming the Common Ruler of the World
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Wuzhui galloped on the blood. The entire battlefield was almost entirely covered with Qin corpses. The blood had gathered into pools, and there was bloody mud and broken skeletons everywhere.
There were very few corpses of the Chu army. In this complete rout, more than 80% of the casualties were caused by trampling.
Xiang Yu looked at the battlefield littered with corpses with a proud face. In this battle, he killed hundreds of people with his own hands. If the spear in his hand had not been so flexible, it would have collapsed long ago.
The most terrifying thing about this war was that Xiang Yu was too powerful. He crushed the morale of the Qin army and destroyed the core of the Qin army.
There was not even any strategic and tactical confrontation between the two sides. It was completely a one-sided tactical crush by Xiang Yu. The Qin army could not withstand the pressure and was directly defeated under the inhuman combat power of Xiang Yu.
After taking another look at the battlefield, Xiang Yu let the Chu army recover their strength, and said to the messenger: "Send a letter to Lord Luo immediately to report the battle situation."
Luo Ling watched Xiang Yu cross the river with his own eyes, and within half a day, he received the news that Xiang Yu had won a great victory, and the results even exceeded his expectations.
Why is he so fierce? If Xiang Yu had three to five thousand brave warriors under his command like Duke Wu of the past, Luo Ling suspected that he could directly create a hole in Zhang Han's army of 400,000.
The military situation was so serious that there was no point in any military strategy. Unless a true military yin and yang like Luo took action, Xiang Yu would be able to manipulate all the generals in the world.
Luo Ling suppressed his inner fluctuations and immediately began to mobilize the princes to encircle Zhang Han. Xiang Yu defeated Zhang Han's troops who came to block him, but he did not go directly at Zhang Han. Instead, he also began to attack Zhang Han's wings.
The collapse of Ziying and others was like a gap in the defense line. Now Xiang Yu wanted to widen this gap and completely cut off the retreat of Zhang Han's army. Xiang Yu wanted to keep as many of his 400,000 troops as possible on the land of Zhao.
The princes didn't know why Luo Ling's order suddenly changed. While they were hesitating, they heard that the Chu army that went to rescue the Qi army had defeated the Qin army that came to intercept it. They immediately realized that the Chu army was coming to support.
Zhang Han's army.
The general who fled back from Wang Li's army stumbled into the camp, knelt on the ground, and said sadly: "Your Majesty, our army was defeated. The King of Xingyang and the King of Jinzhong died in the battle. You committed suicide. The 100,000-man army trampled on each other, and the casualties were incalculable."
Zhang Han felt a chill run down his spine. He could hardly believe what he heard. He walked down and shouted, "It's only been half a day. Wang Li is a veteran of battles. The King of Xingyang and the King of Jinzhong are both knowledgeable about military affairs. How could they be defeated so miserably?"
The Qin general collapsed. He was completely confused and had no idea why he was defeated or why the entire army suddenly collapsed.
Hearing Zhang Han's question, he could only repeat the same thing over and over again, "Your Majesty, the general of the Chu army is simply inhuman. He broke through the iron wall of our army single-handedly and killed hundreds of people. It's like a god descending from heaven. This must be a disaster sent down by heaven..."
“Puff!”
The Qin general could not finish the rest of his sentence. Zhang Han reached out and pulled the sword out of his chest, saying harshly, "You are talking nonsense and shaking the morale of the army. You deserve to die."
Zhang Han didn't believe in any inhumanity, gods descending to earth, or disasters sent from heaven. He understood that the Chu army's generals must have been extremely brave and their defeat was too tragic, so only people who had experienced that war could behave like this.
But no matter what the reason was, this completely unexpected failure was now in front of everyone. "My king, a hundred thousand troops were destroyed, and there must be a huge hole in the defense line. What should we do now?"
Zhang Han walked to the feng shui map, recalled the surrounding military deployment, and ordered to shrink the front line. "The Qi army has been short of food and grass for many days, and the troops are exhausted. If we shrink the front line, the Shandong rebels will have to fight us head-on if they want to rescue the Qi army.
They had been avoiding this for the past few months because they knew that once they entered the frontal battlefield, their hastily recruited troops would not be a match for the Qin soldiers.
We must force them now. If they don’t dare to come, we will directly destroy the Qi army.
There was no longer any force east of Taihang that could resist the Qin Dynasty. After getting the food and grass supplies from Zhao and Qi, the Shandong rebels had no choice but to flee to Chu.
If you dare to come, it is exactly what I want. The Qin warriors are not something the Shandong rebels can resist. Once they enter the frontal battlefield, I will tell them that this is the Qin world, and those who try to shake it will only die. "
From the deaths of King Ziying of Xingyang and two other men, Zhang Han guessed that there might be a fierce general like Duke Wu of Luo in the Chu army who could kill generals and seize flags.
That kind of person is invincible in small-scale wars. Using a small army to fight in this situation is equivalent to giving heads to the enemy. Zhang Han decided to use his best skill of commanding large troops to restrain the general who was in a bad situation.
"The Qin army wants to concentrate its forces for a major battle!"
As a military strategist, Xiang Yu possessed a war sense as sharp as that of a wild beast. He was able to immediately judge Zhang Han's actions just from the sporadic movements of the Qin army.
He smiled, his white teeth shining with a sharp and cold light. The chaotic battlefield was his hunting ground.
No one knew that he had an innate talent, which was to always find the weakest flaw on the battlefield. No matter how chaotic the situation was, he could always find the place that was easiest to break through.
This is the secret weapon that makes him invincible. He is not only a warrior with great strength, but also a true commander.
Xiang Yu pulled down his armor, with a smile on his face, a little mocking, "No one in this world can control tens of millions of troops like controlling his own body. Even commanders like Sun Wu and Bai Qi need other generals to cooperate with them to lead the army. Who else can be my opponent?"
Wuzhui started running again. This divine horse had excellent physical fitness and did not show any signs of fatigue after fighting for so long. Long Ju looked up to Xiang Yu. This battle completely defeated him. He considered himself a fierce general, but compared with Xiang Yu, he was nothing. "Lord Chu, what is our next battle plan?"
In this battle, Long Ju fought very bravely. Among all the generals of the Chu army, only Long Ju could keep up with his footsteps. Xiang Yu admired him very much and laughed loudly: "Plan? No need for a plan. The Chu army just needs to follow me. I want to defeat the main force of the Qin army before the food runs out."
The Chu army, which had basically suffered no losses, followed Xiang Yu again. The land of Handan County was not small, but it seemed very narrow with so many troops gathered here. This was the effect that Luoling and Xiang Yu wanted to achieve most.
Xiang Yu led the Chu army to attack the Qin army, and then met Wucheng Hou who had received an order from Zhang Han to retreat. This was Xiang Yu's favorite encounter, so he naturally did not hesitate at all and led his troops to attack.
Although Marquis Wucheng was not as unstable as Ziying and others before, in a duel with less than 100,000 people, even if Sun Bai faced Xiang Yu, he would be defeated every time and would have no chance of winning.
Xiang Yu's horse trampled past, and the Marquis of Wucheng could only flee in panic with his personal guards. At least he did not become a victim of Xiang Yu's gun. The princes' army finally saw Xiang Yu.
This Xiang family member who once followed Xiang Liang conquered everyone with several undisputed victories, but Xiang Yu knew that it was not enough.
When the news of Wucheng Hou's defeat reached Zhang Han, he was no longer as angry as before. He secretly said in his heart: "What a bunch of trash. The revitalization of the Qin state depends on me."
The Shandong princes' troops surrounded and attacked, but Zhang Han remained fearless. He first beat the Qi army that tried to break out of the encirclement, leaving a field full of corpses before retreating.
Then, King Ju of Wei was defeated head-on by Zhang Han in front of all the princes, and the princes suffered setbacks in front of Zhang Han.
Although there were some gains, they were not at the same level as those achieved by Zhang Han.
The atmosphere in the camp was a little heavy for a moment, and all the princes were uneasy. There was no problem with Luo Ling's plan.
Think about it, the princes' attacks failed repeatedly, but they still surrounded Zhang Han and had the upper hand strategically. However, such a good plan could not be implemented due to the limitations of the princes' abilities. It was really too embarrassing.
Luo Ling had naturally thought of this situation, which was why he valued Xiang Yu. He believed that no matter what the plan was, Xiang Yu could execute it perfectly.
Xiang Yu knew it was time for him to show up. The next war would determine his place in history books. Looking at Luo Ling's gaze, Xiang Yu nodded, stood up and said loudly: "The Zhaocheng League is led by the Luo and Xiang families. Ji's uncle passed away, and Ji is the ruler of Chu. It is getting late today, and we will go into battle tomorrow. I hope you will lead your troops to help. I will lead the troops and charge into the battle."
The next day.
Zhang Han learned the lesson of being defeated one by one by Xiang Yu before, and used the experience of defeating King Wei and others to connect the camps so that they could cooperate in the attack and support each other. Attacking any one army would fall into a situation where the front and rear could not take care of each other.
But in Xiang Yu's opinion, there were too many flaws. Except for Zhang Han's central army, the generals of the Qin Dynasty were a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp.
If you can't even control 10,000 soldiers, how can you be made a king?
Use the same methods you used against King Wei and others to deal with me, Xiang Yu?
To the King of Wei and others, it was a solid wall of steel, but to me, Xiang Yu, it was like cloth that could be torn apart easily.
Xiang Yu shook his head and said, "Fusu, Fusu, if you have such generals under your command, how can the tyrannical Qin Dynasty not perish?"
Xiang Yu had a strong hatred for the Qin Dynasty, but it was mainly focused on the First Emperor, with Fusu being an exception.
Because Fusu's mother was a Chu person, and Fusu had always appeared as an opponent of the First Emperor. Judging from the marriage situation of the Xiang family in the Chu State, if you really count it, Xiang Yu and Fusu are still relatives.
However, except for relatives like the Luo family, other noble relatives all call each other cousins and brothers, and they kill each other more ferociously than strangers.
This is the situation between Xiang Yu and Fusu now. Even though they have no ill feelings towards each other, they are still trying their best to kill each other.
The Shandong princes all deployed their troops at the edge of the battlefield. Their main purpose was to support Xiang Yu, to tie down Zhang Han's archers, to consume the Qin army's inventory, and to coordinate with Xiang Yu's attack. If Xiang Yu showed signs of defeat, Luoling would naturally arrange for them to go to the rescue.
Then the princes saw a scene they could never have imagined.
Xiang Yu led 30,000 Chu troops to attack, and he was joined by some elite cavalrymen of the princes, mainly the elite soldiers who were good at riding and shooting under the command of the King of Yan and the King of Dai, totaling 40,000 people.
Xiang Yu's tactics were always so simple. He would first lead his troops to shoot arrows, and then use cavalry and chariots to force and intimidate the enemy's soldiers. People would instinctively be afraid when facing thousands of horses galloping.
This is something Xiang Yu discovered when he first started playing cavalry. Now all forces in the world are basically soldiers and civilians, and many of the soldiers are actually farmers.
This kind of soldiers could easily collapse when faced with a feint charge by cavalry, causing extremely serious consequences. The worst case was like Wang Li and Ziying before, where the entire army collapsed.
No one else has discovered this trick yet, and Xiang Yu has proven it to be effective. His two strongest points are: first, his ability to find flaws; he always knows where to lead the army on the battlefield.
The second is the ability to expand flaws. His inhuman strength gives him the ability to tear apart formations beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Normally it might just be a local disturbance, but for Xiang Yu, any defeat or even a simple disturbance could develop into an uncontrollable collapse in a short period of time.
Luo Ling saw the horror of Xiang Yu through the two battles. Even if Luo wanted to kill Xiang Yu, he would have to lead his direct descendants to the battlefield and suffer heavy casualties.
Or use items like guards, but one probably won't be enough. The advantage of guards is that as long as they don't die immediately, they can recover later. However, with only 80 martial arts skills, it is really difficult not to die immediately in front of Xiang Yu.
Just as Xiang Yu had expected, the Qin soldiers could not help but feel fear when facing the galloping cavalry. Xiang Yu certainly would not let the cavalry attack the infantry in formation.
Except for people like Xiang Yu who have superb riding talents, most of the cavalry nowadays are good at archery and chasing.
Although it would be no problem to charge directly with him leading the charge, and they could even replicate the previous victory, but for Xiang Yu, what he wanted was a big victory, not a tragic victory, and every Chu person from Jiangdong could not be sacrificed at will.
On the one hand, Xiang Yu ordered the Chu soldiers to attack, while on the other hand he kept pulling back the Qin soldiers. In addition, the princes' troops who were waiting for the Qin army put a lot of pressure on the Qin army. The Qin generals, who were regarded as rubbish by Xiang Yu, were unable to focus on one thing and soon revealed their flaws.
Xiang Yu no longer had any hesitation. He pounced forward like a beast that smelled blood, waving the spear in his hand. In an instant, five or six people died under his huge force.
The cavalry and chariot soldiers who had been following Xiang Yu closely immediately followed, first shooting arrows, and then rushing in through the gap waving swords.
The Chu soldiers were too familiar with the scene before them. Their lord had once again torn apart the enemy's formation as usual, so victory was just around the corner!
In Xiang Yu's eyes, there were no ordinary Qin soldiers at all. From beginning to end, his eyes were fixed on the main general and the camp flag of the Qin camp. With his strength, killing the general and seizing the flag was his pursuit, and the rest was not a challenge at all.
"I am going to kill that Qin general. He is the king appointed by Fusu. I have killed Prince Ying of Xingyang and Prince Bai Li of Jinzhong. He will be the third one."
Xiang Yu pointed at the King of Pingyao in the camp and said to his attendants with a wild laugh. They all laughed and said loudly, "We are willing to follow you."
Xiang Yu led his personal guards and charged forward. The morale of the Chu army was tremendous and they fought bravely. The Qin people were terrified. As Xiang Yu continued to break through the formation, the fighting power of the Chu people was completely boosted by him. Now the Chu army was truly the elite in the world, at least that was the case when Xiang Yu was leading them.
“Puff!”
History always repeats itself in a surprising way. The Qin generals who died at the hands of Xiang Yu even experienced almost the same process. This was the first time that Zhang Han truly witnessed Xiang Yu's bravery. He understood that it was not unfair for Ziying and others to be defeated.
After Xiang Yu killed the King of Pingyao, he did not stop for a moment and continued to lead his troops to attack the weak points of Zhang Han's army.
Zhang Han originally wanted to fight a positional war, but times had changed. As the status of cavalry in war continued to rise, that rigid style of fighting became increasingly disadvantageous.
In particular, Handan, the site of the decisive battle, was specially chosen by Xiang Yu, and it was the most suitable occasion for him to display his abilities.
Not only Zhang Han, but even the Shandong princes stared at Xiang Yu in a daze, watching him easily kill the generals and seize the flags among thousands of troops, watching him defeat a battalion in a short time. They finally understood how he had defeated an army of 100,000 in one day.
They would not be surprised at any battle record of this pervert. Xiang Yu fought three battles in a row, leaving corpses of Qin army everywhere, two marquises and one king were executed, and eight generals were killed and flags were captured. Wherever Wuzhui arrived, there was no decent resistance and he was invincible.
Luo Ling said in a deep voice: "Gentlemen, Duke Chu was very brave and the Qin army was defeated, but are you really going to watch Duke Chu fight alone?"
Luo Ling's words awakened the Qin army from their dream. With Xiang Yu being so fierce, it would be strange if the Qin army could still get away with it. If they didn't follow suit and beat Xiang Yu when he was down, would Xiang Yu let them go after he had finished fighting?
So the princes who had been watching from the sidelines before began to send troops to fight. Zhang Han looked at Xiang Yu who was destroying crazily and felt fear for the first time.
Ever since he started commanding troops, even if he suffered a small defeat, he knew that he could fight back, and the final result was indeed the same, he won battle after battle.
Whether it was the rebellion of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang or the rebellion of the nobles of the six kingdoms, he put them down one by one. He believed that he would be the one to rebuild the Qin Dynasty.
But now, looking at the invincible Xiang Yu, he wavered for the first time. He still mobilized the army to encircle and kill Xiang Yu, and the effect was very good. The casualties of the Chu soldiers increased a lot compared to before, but the general situation did not change at all. The guards asked anxiously: "My king, if this continues, the Chu general will kill through the army. What should we do now?"
Zhang Han looked across the battlefield and saw that Xiang Yu had broken through another battalion. He was still invincible. His physical strength was not affected at all, especially driven by the defeated soldiers. He even fought more bravely. It was no longer as difficult as when he broke through the first battalion. The larger the battalion, the easier it was to defeat it. If Zhang Han had not separated the battalions long ago and if he had not tried hard to maintain it, the army would have collapsed long ago.
With the demise of the Shandong princes, Zhang Han realized that the war could not go on like this. He used the Shandong princes' army between the Qin army and the Chu army as a meat shield and began to slowly withdraw the central army. Led by the Chu army, the Shandong princes' army performed much better than before.
"They are brave in the open field, but defending a city is different from fighting in the open field. There are still millions of Qin troops in Guanzhong, and countless prisoners in Wei and Han. As long as we defend Xingyang, we can keep Guanzhong and start all over again."
Zhang Han understood that it would be impossible to win the field battle with the presence of that incomparably brave Chu general. He was a person who should not have appeared at all. It was not his fault that he did not try hard. It was really because the other side was a genius.
If you can't win in a field battle, then you can't win. Zhang Han is best at defending the city. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were also unstoppable in the past, but in the end they were caught in a dilemma by Zhang Han's impeccable defense of the city. In the end, Zhang Han defeated Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's army.
Now we can completely replicate the original achievements. As long as we hold the dangerous pass leading to Guanzhong, especially the important town of Xingyang, with the large granary behind us, we can completely turn the situation around. Moreover, with Meng Tian's army, there will be no problem in defending the city.
As long as they can hold out in Xingyang for a year or so, they will be able to use the abundant manpower in Guanzhong to reorganize a well-trained army. In the past, the Qin Dynasty was able to rely on Guanzhong and Bashu to annex the world, and it may not be impossible now. Zhang Han does not believe that the princes of Shandong can always work together like this.
This battle lasted from morning to afternoon, and Xiang Yu hardly had any rest. It seemed as if his physical strength was infinite. Although the sweat that seeped out meant that his physical strength was also being consumed, judging from his combat effectiveness, there was no big problem.
Zhang Han paid a huge price to escape. 400,000 Qin soldiers suffered countless casualties, and countless others escaped. Handan County was stained with blood.
Xiang Yu appeared in front of everyone, covered in blood, filled with murderous aura and killing intent. All the princes trembled in fear, only Luo Ling sat still. The others did not dare to look up at Xiang Yu, and knelt on the ground to pay homage to him.
————
After Xiang Yu defeated Wang Li, Duke Zhao planned to besiege Zhang Han and ordered the princes to attack him together. Zhang Han led 400,000 Qin troops and defeated Qi and Wei. The princes were unable to stop him and said, "Duke Zhao's plan was brilliant. Zhang Han could not leave, but we were all defeated. What can we do?"
Xiang Yu said: "Zhang Han is a scoundrel. I will let the Chu army attack him. You all just wait and see."
The princes then deployed their troops in Handan and watched from the sidelines.
Xiang Yu led his troops to attack Qin. All those who came his way were defeated, and those who were attacked in the first moment were killed. The Chu soldiers were worth ten to one, and their shouts shook the heavens. In nine battles that day, Yu killed twenty-three generals, and the four kings and five marquises appointed by Emperor Fusu were all killed by his own hand. The Qin soldiers killed hundreds or even thousands at will, countless of them.
The princes were horrified, looking at Yu as a god. When Yu led his troops back, they all walked out on their knees, no one dared to look up, and banged their heads on the ground, saying: "Your single battle destroyed the tyrannical Qin. This is the merit of Zhou Wu Muye. The Zhaocheng Alliance was an agreement among the princes that the one with the greatest merit would be the common leader. Who else but you can rule the world?"
Xiang Yu accepted it and became the common leader of all the princes. When Qin was destroyed, all the people in the world were his subjects. - "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Xiang Yu"
(End of this chapter)
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