Xiang Yu was enraged by Tian Rong's act of inciting the princes to rebel against Chu, so he led an army of 50,000 into Qi, captured cities and strongholds along the way, and was invincible. Within half a month, he had approached Chengyang.
Although Tian Rong started his rebellion against Qin very early and enjoyed great reputation in Qi, he was far inferior to Xiang Yu in terms of bravery, deployment of troops and formations.
However, because he had never participated in the Battle of Julu that made Xiang Yu famous throughout the world, he did not believe the rumors from the bottom of his heart and believed that they were all exaggerated.
Therefore, facing the aggressive Chu army, he defended Chengyang, full of confidence and determined to give the Chu army a head-on blow.
He sent out three deputy generals and 80,000 Qi soldiers to attack the Chu army stationed outside the city first.
He originally thought that the Chu army, fighting in a foreign country, had low morale and was unfamiliar with the terrain. After being caught off guard, they would most likely lose their composure.
Unexpectedly, the Chu army, which was attacked first by the enemy, did not show any panic at all.
Long Ju, a Chu general who had fought with Xiang Yu for many years, happened to be the first general to be attacked by the Qi army.
Long Qie had long admired Ying Bu, who was awarded the title of King of Jiujiang for his military achievements. He also wanted to accumulate more military merits so that he could become a king in the future.
Seeing that the Qi army came to surrender voluntarily, he was not surprised but happy. He did not care that the Qi army far outnumbered the 20,000 Chu soldiers he led. He immediately rushed into the battle formation, commanding the soldiers loudly while bravely fighting.
He also did not forget to change the battle flag, using the flag to signal the side army commander Zhongli Mei.
Zhongli Mei quickly understood.
He sent scouts to investigate and learned that the Qi army from Chengyang City was still coming to his aid, but he remained calm.
He glanced at Long Ju who was enjoying the killing, and knew that there was no urgent need for help, so he first ordered his soldiers to change the formation, from sparsely spread out on the four wings to a deep pocket in the middle, and began to wait patiently.
When the pocket was filled with 20,000 Qi soldiers, Zhongli Mei decisively contracted the formation and concentrated all his elite forces at the only opening of the pocket formation.
Unfortunately, the Qi soldiers in the formation stepped into the Chu formation without realizing it. Suddenly, they heard deafening shouts of killing all around them, as if there were ferocious Chu soldiers everywhere. They instinctively wanted to retreat, but their retreat had been completely cut off by the elite soldiers of Chu.
However, in the blink of an eye, the 20,000 Qi soldiers trapped by the 20,000 Chu soldiers were either killed or injured, or surrendered and were completely wiped out.
Tian Rong, who was watching the battle from the top of Chengyang City, was terrified. How could he dare to continue sending soldiers to die? He immediately called back the Qi general who was about to lead the troops to reinforce.
For the two Qi generals who were trapped in the area of the Chu army's garrison, commanding their soldiers and fighting bravely with Long Ju, they suddenly saw 20,000 of their comrades being devoured by the tightly surrounded Chu army, and they became an isolated army trapped from front to back. Their morale was already sharply reduced. They continued to fight in agony, but no reinforcements came for a long time. They only saw their comrades wailing and falling under the weapons of the Chu army, and they didn't know whether they were dead or alive. One can imagine how deep the despair in their hearts was.
The one who completely destroyed the last ray of hope was Xiang Yu, who arrived late and finally joined the battle.
When the flag with the word "Xiang" suddenly appeared and fluttered in the wind, the Qi soldiers, who had been fighting numbly, had no time to react. The Chu army, who had caught the flag earlier than them, was already boiling with excitement. They were rejoicing at the arrival of the brave king whom they had followed wholeheartedly. The roars were overwhelming and the morale rose sharply again!
In sharp contrast, the Qi soldiers looked confused and had no idea of Xiang Yu's terrifying power.
When the Qi soldiers closest to the direction where Xiang Yu appeared subconsciously turned their heads, they caught a glimpse of the tallest, most majestic and most eye-catching figure of the King of Chu.
The King of Chu, who was rumored to be so notorious, turned out to be so young and handsome!
Maybe it was because he had double pupils and his eyes were icy and chilling, so even without saying a word, he was still awe-inspiring and awe-inspiring, making people feel cold all over.
He wore a shining silver helmet, a set of cold silver armor that shone with cold light, a golden hook belt around his waist, a black horse that roared in the wind, and a pair of black cloud leopard-head combat boots.
The most eye-catching thing was the tiger-head, gold-gripped, dragon-carved Overlord Spear in his hand, which weighed 120 kilograms and usually required two soldiers to move together.
The weapon is so heavy that it is just a burden for ordinary people. But in the hands of him who is born with supernatural powers, it becomes a magical weapon that kills the enemy and no one dares to stop it.
They were stunned for a moment, and before they could even utter the exclamation "What an extraordinary weapon", they saw a silver light passing by in their peripheral vision.
—As soon as the Overlord Spear was drawn, the enemy fell to the ground.
There is no need for any superb spear techniques. Just relying on the power to lift a tripod, this spear is destined to be invincible in the world.
Anyone who was pierced by the sharp spear tip carrying a tremendous force would lose his life on the spot; even if he was only affected by the residual power, his mouth would be cracked and he would be unable to fight again in the short term.
Before they could reluctantly pick up their weapons to put up a desperate resistance, the spears were already at them. How could they survive under the onslaught of such a large force
The sounds of broken bones and miserable howls were mixed together. Xiang Yu, who had killed five people in the blink of an eye, did not like to waste time. He jumped on his horse and flew over the corpses of the enemy soldiers, violently charged into the enemy group, and rushed east and west aggressively.
Why would he need to use military tactics against such a weak force
Even if he had to abandon all his formations, as long as he bravely moved forward, the Chu army would follow him loyally.
This was indeed the fact—wherever the black horse leaped to a place, the cold light of the Overlord Spear would flash, and a bloody storm would surely break out.
After Xiang Yu entered the battle, the situation that was already favorable to the Chu army was completely locked and became a foregone conclusion in the blink of an eye.
Witnessing with one's own eyes the King of Chu's majesty and domineering aura, it was like a giant flame burning the sky sweeping across all directions. Wherever the Overlord's spear tip touched, there was no one left. Not only were the Qi soldiers in the field terrified and fled in all directions, even the guards watching in the city were deeply shocked. In their panic, they could not imagine that there was anyone in the world who could be the enemy of this unparalleled god of war.
When the Chu soldiers saw how brave their king was, their blood boiled and they were filled with murderous intent. They pressed forward in a dense array, each one fighting against ten or ten against a hundred, and slaughtered the Qi soldiers who had already lost their fighting spirit.
Tian Rong also felt horrified and secretly felt deep regret.
-If he had known earlier that Xiang Yu was such a fierce god with courage unmatched by ten thousand men and supernatural powers unrivaled by anyone, and that he led a mighty army that could swallow up mountains and rivers, how could he have dared to rebel so easily, or even had the crazy idea of challenging him to a duel!
Unfortunately, it's too late to regret.
He underestimated the abilities of Xiang Yu and the two Chu generals, which resulted in him losing 50% of his troops when the two main forces met for the first time. Not only did the enemy seem to be unscathed, but his army's morale was even severely damaged in one fell swoop!
Tian Rong had a bleak face, but he could only watch the Qi army, which was surrounded by the Chu army, quickly disintegrate in the encirclement: either they died tragically or became prisoners.
He gritted his teeth and said nothing about sending more troops to rescue.
—Looking at the fate of the reinforcements just now, we can see that even if Xiang Yu was not there, there would be no possibility of rescue.
Tian Rong, who was feeling extremely miserable in the city at the moment, naturally did not know that Xiang Yu, who had won a great victory in the first battle and had achieved great results, still had a cold face and was in a very bad mood when he returned to the main tent.
There are two reasons.
One reason was that he had previously wanted to order his former general, Jiujiang King Ying Bu, to lead troops to help Changshan Zhang Er resist Chen Yu. However, when the royal edict was delivered, he could only get the poor excuse of the other party claiming to be ill and unable to go, and could only send his deputy to help.
The second was that when he was about to go into battle, he learned from the soldiers who had just arrived after a long journey that Xiao Gongjiao was no match for Peng Yue. It took him less than a day to defeat the enemy's army and Xiao Gongjiao was completely defeated. His whereabouts were also unknown.
The latter was also the reason why he couldn't help but get furious on the spot, his face frosty, and he hesitated for a long time before going into battle.
After the soldiers roughly cleaned up the battlefield, they were ordered to take turns to rest so that they could get enough energy for the attack on Chengyang tomorrow.
Xiang Yu took off his battle robe with a cold face, washed off the blood stains hastily, changed into casual clothes, sat down in the main seat with his horse and sword, and summoned Fan Zeng, Long Ju, Zhongli Mei and other important officials who accompanied the army to discuss matters.
While they were discussing, another military officer came to report.
Different from the panic-stricken and dusty-faced military officer who had previously reported the bad news of Xiao Gongjiao's defeat, the one who entered this time was not only full of energy, but also saluted the high-ranking officials and generals of the Chu State in the tent with neither arrogance nor servility, showing great confidence.
Xiang Yu took a closer look and couldn't help but frowning.
Wasn’t that Zhong Gong, who was transferred to the Guanzhong Army along with Li Zuoche in a hurry that day and had followed him in battles for several years
He suddenly appeared here. Could it be that the war situation in Yan was not going well and something went wrong
Xiang Yu had heard a lot of bad news today. As soon as this thought came to his mind, he felt uncontrollably irritated.
However, as soon as Zhong Gong opened his mouth, he completely broke the anxiety.
Duke Zhong could not hide his joy and said, "Report to the King! Ten days ago, the capital of Yan was captured and Zang Tu was executed—"
"good!"
Xiang Yu's brows suddenly relaxed, and he laughed joyfully on the spot, as loud as a thunder!
Before Zhong Gong could finish his speech, the depression that had been held for a whole day and even the wanton fighting just now could not dissipate had completely dissipated with this good news.
This attack came so suddenly that not only did it frighten Duke Zhong severely, but even the important ministers in the tent, who were used to seeing the overlord's unpredictable, majestic and stern face, were secretly shocked and could not help but look at each other.
Although Yan general Zang Tu was capable of fighting, his strength was only so-so. It was also evident from the Yan army's lackluster performance at Julu that their military morale was weak and they were no match for the powerful Chu army.
Although the army led by Lu Bu was the Former Qin capital army that was incorporated into the Chu camp halfway, it was still an elite force among the Former Qin troops that should not be underestimated, and it would not be defeated by the Yan army.
Even though the speed with which they conquered Yandu Ji was indeed beyond everyone's expectations, the Yan area was only a small area. It was neither a formidable enemy nor one of the three forces that had caused the rebellion against Chu and made the king so angry.
What kind of wonders were there that they hadn't discovered that could make the king, who was not pleased even with the overwhelming victory just now, smile and praise for it
Xiang Yu had no idea of the doubts in his ministers' minds.
After listening to General Zhong's brief account of the military situation in Yan, the expression on his cold face, although far from being pleasant, was after all a little gentler than before.
After finally announcing the good news of a quick victory, he had to inform each of the commander-in-chief, Lu Bu, one by one, of the fact that he had taken the initiative to divide the troops into three forces.
One force, led by Han Xin, went to help Xiao Gongjiao suppress Peng Yue, the former bandit leader; the other force, led by Li Zuoche, stayed in Jicheng and waited for the Chu officials to take over. At the same time, according to Lu Bu's military order, they did not kill civilians and even opened granaries to aid the people of Yan; and Lu Bu himself set out with Han Xin on the day of the great victory, but in a different direction - straight to the battlefield of Sanqi, which was bound to win, as if to add icing on the cake.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Xiang Yu was not angry. Instead, his tightly pursed thin lips slowly relaxed along with his furrowed brows.
Except Xiang Yu, no one else in the tent knew the news that Xiao Gongjiao had attacked Peng Yue's army and was defeated.
This resulted in that while Xiang Yu was surprised and delighted when he heard it, Fan Zeng was confused by Lu Bu's strange arrangement.
But as a strategist, he needed to look at the overall situation most of the time and had the deepest understanding of Lu Bu.
This is different from Long Ju, who simply listened to Lu Bu's self-willed decision and showed a look of gloating, believing that Lu Bu would be in trouble; and his idea is completely different from Zhongli Mei, who has a blank expression but also thinks that Lu Bu is going to die.
Lu Bu seems to act rough and reckless, quite like the king, but it is just an appearance.
Looking at his past actions, they all showed foresight and numerous ingenious strategies. What surprised him the most was that the other party had quietly figured out the king's most unpredictable mind.
Fan Zeng frowned, and couldn't help but think more deeply.
The same is true this time.
At first glance, it looks messy, as if it was done on a whim.
—But if you think about it carefully, it is clear that there is some kind of inexplicable deep conspiracy.