The commander-in-chief is dead, and the banner has also fallen.
While the Yan army was at a loss, Han Xin promptly commanded the army to advance from the center, and at the same time, he deployed his double wings to encircle the enemy on three sides. Except for the Yan army at the back who could retreat a little from the only opening behind them, the rest of the Yan soldiers felt that they were surrounded by enemies and had no way out. They were naturally defeated.
Every time the Chu army charged, hundreds of Yan soldiers would be killed.
Thinking of the words just shouted by the opponent's commander, "Drop your weapons, and those who surrender will not be killed", even though the corpses of 200,000 Qin soldiers in Xin'an were still fresh in people's memory, in a situation where they had no leader and were basically left with only one way to die, the Yan army soldiers who were frightened and defeated had no choice but to grit their teeth and choose to fight back.
There was a clang of weapons falling to the ground, and the Yan soldiers rushed to drop their weapons and kneel on the ground begging for mercy.
Only the rear group of Yan army, seeing the bad situation, still wanted to retreat, but they were blocked by the elite troops led by Han Xin who moved forward without anyone noticing.
Seeing that the comrades in the rear who wanted to escape were killed, the remaining hesitant ones quickly gave up their resistance, dropped their weapons, and followed the other comrades to become prisoners.
Originally, they thought that they would lose a small number of troops, but because Lu Bu rushed into the enemy's rear alone and personally killed the King of Yan, they were miraculously able to save all of them, and also captured more than 60,000 Yan prisoners...
Faced with such brilliant results, Deputy General Han Xin's face remained as dark as a rock.
He indifferently sent people to simply clean up the battlefield, and prepared to continue heading towards the Jicheng Imperial Guards twenty miles away.
From beginning to end, he didn't even give a glance to his younger brother Lu Xian, who was riding his horse in circles triumphantly, carrying the head of King Yan and enjoying the cheers of the Chu army's soldiers.
After witnessing the commander's extraordinary performance, not only did the Yan army lose heart, but the Chu army was also proud of him, and their morale was unprecedentedly high.
Lu Bu held his chin high, not even wiping off the bloodstains all over his body, his face still showing an arrogant and cold expression, but in his heart he was already feeling flattered by the praise, and the steps of the Jade Lion's hooves also appeared somewhat graceful.
What is good command, invincible, coming and going like the wind, brave and good at fighting, invincible...
It's a pity that these rough men were not well-educated and could only repeat the same few words over and over again. Lu Bu, who had often heard scholars praising Cao Cao and Yuan Xiaoqi in various ways in the past, quickly lost his arrogance.
Alas, we still need to promote a few eloquent people in the army!
Lu Bu turned around angrily and was about to go look for his brother Han.
Unexpectedly, Han Xin, who usually treated him very gently, turned cold this time, and whenever he spoke, his tone was so cold that it seemed like ice chips were falling.
Lu Bu looked confused. After being ignored by the other party several times, he simply stretched his neck and leaned in front of Han Xin, carefully observing his face and asked with concern: "Brother Han, are you feeling unwell?"
He only knew that those young ladies would have strange tempers every once in a while and would utter cold words for no reason.
How come Brother Han, a man of eight feet tall and with delicate skin and tender flesh, has such a strange problem
Han Xin naturally didn't know what Lü Bu was thinking, otherwise he would have been furious. Hearing this, he just turned his eyes away silently and said coldly, "I'm fine, don't worry about it, General."
Lü Bu's eyes widened, not noticing Han Xin's deliberate indifference and alienation. He rode the jade lion nimbly around in a small circle, and in the blink of an eye he was back in front of Han Xin. He asked curiously, "Really?"
Seeing that my brother who broke his promise had no sense of responsibility, he was still lingering around like a cat, clearly causing trouble but still wanted to get to the bottom of it as if he was innocent...
Han Xin tried to dodge several times but failed. Each time, Lu Bu, who was skilled in riding, circled in front of him. He could not help but pursed his lips and tried to hold back. In the end, he could not hold back any longer and said stiffly, "General, since you are willing to sacrifice your life, why do you need to consult me?"
When he went there, he played it down and said that he had only cut down the big banner, tricking him into believing him and agreeing to do it.
As a result, judging from his unwillingness to turn back, it was not just to cut down the big banner, it was obvious that he had a blood feud with Zang Tu. He did not even care about his own life and actually knocked over the king's carriage!
Thinking of the fear he felt at that time, Han Xin became furious.
Lu Bu was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses and widened his eyes in disbelief.
—Oh my god!
Why is this cheap brother Han's weird temper so similar to that of Gao Fuyi, who would get angry and throw ice chips at him every time he saw him personally charging into battle and coming back with a few scratches after killing people!
Seeing his surprised expression, Han Xin seemed offended. He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked angrily, "Brother, is there anything wrong with what I said?"
"No, no, no." Lu Bu shook his head subconsciously, and put on a flattering smile. He instinctively used the same trick he used to deal with Gao Shun. "It's just that I haven't been on the field for a long time. I got carried away and forgot my promise to my brother. It's really a sin."
As a general who was highly valued by Xiang Yu and destined to have a promising future, he humbled himself so much to his useless brother who was promoted by him out of turn, and admitted his mistakes so frankly and happily...
Instead, Han Xin felt somewhat embarrassed and awkward.
In addition, the word "long" that my brother unconsciously brought up in "long time without playing" is also worth pondering.
Han Xin frowned slightly and looked at Lu Bu with a little doubt.
With my dear brother's extraordinary skills, I'm afraid there is no one in the world who can be his rival except King Xiang.
If he had really fought in the war, he would have become famous all over the world. How could he still be unknown until now
Lü Bu was completely unaware that he had spoken hastily and accidentally let the cat out of the bag. Seeing Han Xin's expression ease, Lü Bu did not notice the confusion in his expression. He only knew that there was hope for reconciliation, so he continued, "It's all because of Bu's fault. I made Brother Han worry. I hope Brother Han will be magnanimous and not hold it against Bu's impatience."
Han Xin sighed lightly, how could he be angry with him
That little doubt flashed past him, and he did not think about it in detail. He also suppressed his pretended indifference and apologized to Lu Bu: "My foolish brother is also angry because of his concern, please don't blame me, my dear brother."
Lu Bu shook his head desperately, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled: "Brother Han, don't bother with me!"
He had a clear plan in his mind: seeing that the foolish king was hopeless and beyond help, he had no choice but to doubly cherish the wise counselor who was willing to think for him. What was the big deal about coaxing him with a few soft words
That little problem was completely resolved with just a few words.
- At this time, Han Xin naturally didn't know that only after repeating this several times, he would be able to completely realize, like the unlucky Gao Fuyi hundreds of years later, that his brother always had the bastard style of "making mistakes decisively, admitting them sincerely and quickly, but never changing his bad habits and making the same mistakes again next time".
However, after destroying the main force of Yandu, and eliminating some old, weak, sick and disabled people who were looked down upon and incorporating the rest into the ranks, the number of troops under Lu Bu's command suddenly jumped from 50,000 to 80,000.
When the army set out again, they arrived at the gate of Jicheng in a flash. Lu Bu led the way, showing the head of the King of Yan from a distance, and shouted to the shocked gate guards: "Zang Tu is dead, why don't you open the city and surrender quickly!"
Seeing the king, who had personally led the army to battle with high spirits only a few sticks of incense sticks ago, now with only a bloody head left, this was a devastating blow to the morale of the remaining defenders.
In addition, when they looked around, they saw many familiar faces in the Chu army who looked dejected and dressed in Yan army uniforms. How could they still have the fighting spirit
The response of the officials in Ji City was naturally very quick.
Even the king is dead, what is there to resist
—Anyway, Ji has changed hands three times in the past few short years, so this fourth time is not a big deal.
After discussion, the Prime Minister of Yan ordered the city gates to be opened, and personally led all the officials, trembling with fear, to welcome the Chu army that had been waiting impatiently.
All the princes changed color when they heard about the attack on Chu, and they were afraid of its brutality.
The people of Jicheng were also extremely panicked, but they had nowhere to escape, so they had to close their doors and try their best to hide the valuables in their homes. However, they did not dare to hide too much, for fear of offending the vicious soldiers who came to loot their property.
Among them, those who had cellars at home let their wives and children squeeze in, while the husbands simply plucked up their courage and peeked through the cracks in the doors at these ferocious Chu soldiers, their hearts beating fast.
They were terrified that the fierce and bloodthirsty Chu army would break into their house at any moment, and even taking away their property would be a small matter. What they were afraid of was that the notorious Chu soldiers would not even spare their lives.
What surprised them was that these notorious Chu soldiers did not even look at the enemy, but just followed the main general who was riding in the front, and passed by in a line.
And Lu Bu, the young and fancy-looking "embroidered pillow" who had just been despised by Zang Tu, was covered in blood because he had just fought alone. His Ruixue battle armor was covered with bloodstains, and the painted halberd on his back was also covered in blood.
Even the originally snow-white jade lion turned a light brown mottled color after the enemy's blood dried up.
Coupled with the calmness on his handsome face, it was as shocking as if Shura had come to the world.
…What happened
The people of Yan State who escaped the disaster had no time to rejoice before they fell into deeper confusion.
Lu Bu didn't even bother to look at the Yan officials crawling on the ground. He was concentrating on whispering something with Han Xin beside him.
Only Li Zuoche, another deputy general who was closest to the two generals and was temporarily sent by Xiang Yu before the expedition and was usually very low-key, heard the conversation between the two very clearly.
Lu Bu looked solemn and said, "Brother Han, in my opinion, since Jicheng has been taken and the Yan army has lost all its fighting spirit, we only need to leave a few thousand men to take over temporarily, and then replace them when the king sends someone. There is no need to waste the entire army here."
Han Xin nodded in agreement: "My dear brother, what you said is absolutely right."
The three forces simultaneously raised their flags in rebellion against Chu. Xiang Yu undoubtedly hated Tian Rong the most, who started the rebellion and posed the greatest threat to Chu. He decided to lead his troops to personally attack the Three Qis in an attempt to quickly put down the leaders of the rebellion and make an example of the rest. He sent an envoy to Chen Yu, ordering the newly-appointed King of Jiujiang Ying Bu to go and support Zhang Er. As for Peng Yue, who was invited by Tian Rong and appointed as a general to stir up trouble in Liangdi, although he had already captured the city of Jiyin, Xiang Yu did not take him seriously.
After all, Peng Yue had only a thousand weak soldiers in the Battle of Changyi and had not made any outstanding military achievements. Moreover, he had fought side by side with Liu Bang and did not follow the Chu army into the pass. Xiang Yu looked down on this makeshift team of only more than 10,000 scattered soldiers and sent only Xiao Gongjiao, whose performance was only mediocre, to suppress them.
Han Xin was not optimistic about this and sighed, "Xiao Gongjiao is only a county magistrate and has no knowledge of military affairs. Although Peng Yue is not well-known, he is a bandit. I am afraid the outcome of this battle is uncertain."
'It's hard to tell who will win' is just a euphemism - while the former is mediocre and completely underestimates the enemy, the latter has been on the edge of a knife for years, with his military strength growing stronger and stronger, so he must have some cunning ways to survive in troubled times.
It is easy to take advantage of the loopholes and defeat the arrogant soldiers.
Peng Yue
Lu Bu narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression was serious, and his ears twitched quietly.
The name sounded quite familiar to him: this was a man who seemed to have great abilities, but in the end the cunning Liu Bang found an excuse to chop him into meat paste, and also killed his entire family.
"Since Xiao Gongjiao is no match for Peng Yue, Brother Han, are you willing to lead 50,000 troops to go?" Seeing Han Xin's worried look, Lu Bu had an idea and immediately gave him a hammer, which sealed the deal: "Lu Bu will take the 5,000 soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp and temporarily separate from Brother Han to go to Qi to help the king!"
Assist... King Xiang
Han Xin raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at Lu Bu in disbelief, who was extremely serious.
If there is anyone in the world who least needs subordinates to add icing on the cake, it is undoubtedly the unparalleled King Xiang.
The Overlord spared no effort to send his best soldiers and generals to Qi in person, just for the purpose of launching a fierce attack and quickly conquering the enemy to serve as a deterrent. He definitely did not really regard Tian Rong as an enemy who needed to be treated so seriously and cautiously.
With so many powerful soldiers and generals, why do we need Fengxian to add icing on the cake
Seeing Han Xin's unconcealed surprise, Lu Bu sighed sincerely, but there were too many people around him, so he couldn't express his true thoughts.
—He is a piece of shit and he wants to help that stupid king!
He did not hesitate to run around and work himself to keep watch, just to prevent the stupid king from making a stupid move, which ended up ruining his lifelong plan of "unifying the world and hunting down Liu the thief" that he had worked hard to formulate for the Chu army!!!
Seeing that Lu Bu looked like he had a lot of grievances and difficulties, Han Xin was shocked, as he had accidentally underestimated how determined Lu Bu was to kill Liu Bang. He didn't want to ask any questions under the misunderstanding.
He shook his head in amusement and rejected Lu Bu's fantastic proposal: "I am only a deputy general, how can I lead an army to Liangdi alone?"
Lu Bu disagreed. "Speed is the most important thing in war. Why should we be so constrained by the way we employ people? Besides, Han is so talented that he is wronged to be my deputy general. It is fine if others do not know how talented you are, but I am not blind. How could I really treat Han as an ordinary deputy general and neglect him? Besides, all these 50,000 soldiers have been trained by Han himself and are loyal to him. There is no need to worry that they will not obey your orders."
Moreover, Han Xin's previous look and criticism, which were very similar to Gao Fuyi's, really left him with lingering fears.
He originally thought that with Han Xin in charge of the rear army, he would have nothing to worry about and could charge forward freely...but he did not expect that this seemingly temperless man would be so fierce when he got angry.
Moreover, Peng Yue was quite capable, and the plan he had finally planned to help Chu conquer the world was extremely important, and he must not allow the other party to cause trouble in the future.
Ordinary people could not suppress Peng Yue, so he sent out a military genius to lead a large army. Wouldn't it be easy to capture him
And he can go there personally to keep an eye on the foolish king to avoid any unnecessary complications - it is a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone!
Lü Bu thought happily, and comforted Han Xin who felt something was wrong, saying: "Brother Han, don't worry. This is something I advocated on my own. If the king really wants to investigate, I will never let you get involved."
He just didn't believe that the foolish king would pursue such trivial details after Han Xin had made such a great contribution in defeating Peng Yue's army.
To be honest, the military order issued by King Han at the beginning was to order him to conquer the State of Yan, but there was no mention of stopping the march and waiting on the spot after defeating Yan.
Therefore, if he wanted to take advantage of this loophole, it could not be considered as violating the king's order at all.
Lu Bu's subconscious words actually stimulated Han Xin, who was still hesitant, and frowned and agreed immediately.
But his brother thinks so highly of him and plans for his future that he wants to repay him with all his strength. How could he really agree to Lu Bu's idea of taking the blame alone
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Lu Bu was very happy and would not argue with him about such an unimportant matter.
But since Han Xin will lead his troops to support Xiao Gongjiao, he will go straight to Qi, so what about the affairs of Yan
Li Zuoche had been listening to this wonderful conversation silently. He didn't know where he was until the two of them reached a consensus and quickly decided on the next plan.
For some reason, he suddenly felt cold.
He suddenly came back to his senses and met two pairs of piercing eyes.
Lu Bu clapped his hands and a sly smile of success appeared on the corner of his mouth.
He stretched out his hands without hesitation, shook Li Zuoche's hands warmly, and decided neatly: "All matters in Jicheng will be handled by Lieutenant General Li for the time being!"
Li Zuoche: “…”