Lu Bu, who can still make fun of this, will not be cooked.
On the other hand, Xiang Bo at this moment was so anxious that he felt like he was being cooked. He paced back and forth in his tent, sweating profusely.
-Even if Fan Zeng intended to conceal it, the sudden proposal in the Chu army could not fail to alarm Xiang Bo, who was the Zuo Yin.
He really couldn't figure out what kind of slander Fan Zeng had said to Xiang Yu during the second half of the day when he was busy in the camp. He actually made the man who was persuaded by him in the morning change his mind in an instant!
Xiang Bo's mood was forced to fluctuate greatly, and his face looked really ugly.
He had noticed that Xiang Yu looked unhappy in the tent just now, but he did not dare to persuade him much. However, when he just tried to ask a few questions about the reason, Xiang Yu became angry and turned his face away, and every word he said showed that he had made up his mind.
Compared to the hasty decision he made for the first time a few days ago, he was much more serious this time: not only did he summon generals from all departments and hold an emergency military meeting, he also made basic tactical deployments and was only waiting to attack the Han army inside the pass in two days.
Xiang Bo was immediately horrified and racked his brains to try to stop him with excuses like "If you go back on your word, how can you gain credibility?" However, Xiang Yu just put on a stern face and politely sent him back.
Xiang Bo had never been treated like this before, and he felt shocked and doubtful, and did not dare to force him to stay.
Xiang Yu never suspected that his uncle, with whom he had always been close, had colluded with the Han army. He just put himself in his uncle's shoes and thought that he would be furious when he realized that he was fooled by the cunning Liu Bang. He didn't want his uncle to experience the same humiliation again.
Even for this expedition, he chose to hold the military meeting when Xiang Bo was away, so as to avoid any harm to his uncle who had discovered the truth of being deceived.
He was not good at acting. He didn't want to say anything, but he also didn't want to hide anything, so he just put on a stern face and said a few vague words and sent the person away.
Little did he know that this ambiguity made Xiang Bo, who was guilty of his crime, jump in fear.
If he had not known Xiang Yu very well, he would have thought that his nephew had discovered the marriages of their children that he and Liu Bang had discussed day and night, as well as his delicate position in the matter.
Since he was relatively safe for the moment but was excluded from this war for some reason, the first thing he should do was to visit Zhang Liang again and inform him of the emergency.
Xiang Bo was almost worried about the danger Liu Bang was about to face. He originally wanted to go there in person, but in order to prevent the old man from secretly sending people to watch him and cause trouble, he simply sent only one of his confidants to go through the border to the Old Qin Palace overnight.
At this moment, Liu Bang was sitting face to face with Zhang Liang, repeatedly deducing the details of how to respond to the dangerous Hongmen Banquet tomorrow, but he did not expect to hear this bad news.
"This is true!"
Liu Bang was horrified, and he crawled to the secret envoy, not caring about his appearance, and grabbed the other's shoulder and repeatedly asked: "Is Xiang Yu really going to break through the pass with his army in two days?!"
“No lies.”
The confidants sent by Xiang Bo were also extremely nervous. After repeating Xiang Bo's repeated warnings, they did not dare to stay any longer and left in a hurry.
Even though Liu Bang intended to keep him and ask more details about the Chu army's movements, the information he obtained was extremely limited because Xiang Bo was also kept in the dark.
Therefore, even though he was eloquent and willing to put down his airs, he was unable to get out any information except the fatal bad news that "the Chu army will march through the pass in two days".
"It's over. It's over."
The Hongmen Banquet had already made Liu Bang nervous and worried. In the end, although he didn't have to attend the banquet, it was an even more fatal disaster!
Even though Liu Bang had always been a tough person, he now felt a sense of grief and indignation as if "God was going to kill me", especially since he had not yet dissipated the luck and pride of having escaped the disaster because of a sudden change in his path, which really made him discouraged.
He fell on the couch, muttering to himself with lifeless eyes. Zhang Liang, who was also surprised by the news, had calmed down and fell into deep thought.
—Where exactly did the omission occur
The first person Zhang Liang suspected was Xiang Bo, who should have been more pro-Chu and was actually more friendly to them.
Anything out of the ordinary is a demon. Could it be that Xiang Bo was not a fool who failed to distinguish between public and private affairs and betrayed his master for the sake of "righteousness", but was a sowing of evil by Fan Zeng? In order to deceive Liu Bang's trust and attend the Hongmen Banquet, from which there would be no return, so as to capture the King of Qin and annihilate the Han army in one fell swoop
It is well known that Fan Zeng and Xiang Bo did not get along, but if that was just an illusion...
Zhang Liang shook his head slightly and quickly rejected this guess.
If Xiang Bo's urgency and honesty that night were really the performance of a person who was sweet-mouthed but had a sharp tongue, it would be too shocking.
The most important thing is that if Xiang Yu was determined to attack Liu Bang, given his usual style, he would most likely choose to go to war with him in an open and aboveboard manner and decide the outcome of the fight in an honest and fair manner.
The strength of the two sides was already very different, and there was a ready-made excuse - the Han army controlled the Hangu Pass and prevented the Chu army from entering. The Chu army could use this as an excuse to launch an expedition against them.
It would be easy for the Chu army to destroy the Han army.
Why go to such unnecessary trouble to send the Zuo Yin of the Chu State to go to the Han camp alone
Even if both sides have different opinions on right and wrong, rashly annihilating an ally will inevitably be criticized in the name of justice.
But when the enfeoffment of the princes was imminent and without Liu Bang there would be one less person to divide the land and be crowned king, the princes would only be happy to watch it happen and stand by and watch instead of criticizing it.
As for Xiang Yu, he had just committed the atrocity of killing 200,000 former Qin soldiers not long ago. It seems that he would not care about his reputation.
After thinking about the whole thing over and over again, Zhang Liang vaguely realized that it was the blood-stained shirt that Liu Bang had added to the story that ruined it.
However, the assassination and beheading of Ying Ziying happened suddenly, and Xiang Bo's visit to inform on the matter was also unexpected. The response plan they thought of at the last minute had more than one omission, so it was not surprising that Fan Zeng, who had always been wary of them, was able to see through it.
No matter what, reminiscing about the past is of no use. The most urgent task is how to deal with the suppression of the Chu army in two days.
Liu Bang looked terrified, as if he had lost his parents. In his opinion, this matter was a dead end.
After the period of being blinded by greed, he became more and more aware of how stupid what he had done was under Zhang Liang's reminders in the past few days: How could a hundred thousand Han troops compete with the four hundred thousand brave and skilled Chu troops led by Xiang Yu? Not to mention that there were also the princes' armies eyeing them covetously.
The only way, perhaps, is to replace the surrendered Qin imperial guards in the Qin Palace with the elite Han army while the Chu army has not yet reacted, and then take those tens of thousands of elite soldiers and flee towards Ba County and Shu County.
Relying on the natural barriers of the Bashu region, it would be difficult for outside pursuers to enter, and Xiang Yu would not be interested in going deep into the hinterland. Then he could still rely on tens of thousands of elite soldiers to defend himself.
It’s just that it’s difficult for outsiders to get in, and it’s difficult for yourself to get out.
Doing so would be tantamount to trapping himself in the backyard of the Former Qin Dynasty, making it difficult for him to make any progress, let alone realize his grand ambitions.
But in just a moment, Liu Bang had made the sober decision to keep only his trusted elite soldiers and abandon the others and run away.
After hearing what he said, Zhang Liang was silent for a while, and suddenly said: "When we run out of options, retreating to Bashu is indeed a good way out."
He had a sharp eye and naturally knew that the Han army alone would never be able to compete with Xiang Yu, who was so powerful that he could command the support of hundreds of people.
What we need to strive for now is to please Xiang Yu, so that we can get a fiefdom that is not too bad in the future, so that we can accumulate strength, develop allies, and make our plans slowly.
Liu Bang's eyes suddenly lit up.
How could he not understand Zhang Liang's implication? It was clearly that the Han army still had a chance of survival!
"Please teach me, sir!"
The situation was urgent, so Zhang Liang would not keep anyone in suspense. Instead, he revealed the entire plan and asked Liu Bang to immediately do two things.
One is to send an envoy urgently to Pengcheng, the capital of Chu, to escort King Xin of Chu, who was deliberately ignored and snubbed by Xiang Yu because he insisted on fulfilling the agreement that "he who enters the pass first will be king".
The second is to send envoys to the Chu camp to negotiate, at all costs, to delay the day of opening Hangu Pass and allowing the Chu army to pass until the King of Chu arrives at his will.
The King of Chu, who was personally supported by Xiang, eventually turned against Xiang because he was unwilling to be a puppet, which gave rise to the opportunity for Liu Bang's rise.
In order to maintain power, the King of Chu had to restrain Xiang Yu, who was gaining momentum and was at the peak of his power. Looking at all the princes in the world, the most suitable candidate was Liu Bang.
There is no doubt that the King of Chu will restrain Xiang Yu and save the Han army at all costs.
Liu Bang understood this as well. While thanking Zhang Liang profusely, he hurriedly summoned his trusted subordinates and gave them instructions on these two important matters.
The plan was carried out, but Zhang Liang still felt uneasy.
There were too many variables in his hastily formulated strategy.
The most difficult thing to grasp is how much control the King of Chu has left on Xiang Yu, or how much patience Xiang Yu has left.
If Xiang Yu was forced into a corner and was determined to wipe out the Han army, even if it meant openly defying the King of Chu, then they would have no choice but to flee to Bashu with their remnants.
At this time, Lu Bu had no idea that his unintentional intervention to prove his loyalty would become a huge rock thrown into the center of the lake, completely disrupting the plans of many people and causing numerous waves.
After he had a comfortable sleep on the makeshift bunk in the military tent and was fully alert, waiting for Liu Bang's Hongmen Banquet to arrive, he was shocked to learn that the banquet originally scheduled for Hongmen in Xinfeng had been cancelled!
"How can this be possible!!!" Lu Bu, who was ready and sharpening his sword, was shocked to hear the bad news. His eyes suddenly widened, he stood up abruptly, and his dagger fell to the ground with a clang.
However, he had no time to care about the broken sword at this moment. His head was about to explode with disbelief!
"Oh my god! How can you be so unreasonable!"
Lu Bu stomped his feet vigorously and roared angrily.
— Was it that the treacherous ancestor of Big Ear Liu was too untrustworthy, or was it that Taishigong deceived him? Which damn bastard had the heart to ruin this matter!
Oh my god, what should I do now
Lu Bu, who had no idea that he was the 'heartless bastard', was so sad and angry that he paced back and forth in an extremely excited manner, saying "Absolutely impossible" and "God damn so-and-so deceived me" all the time.
The man who was just fine, but after hearing about this insignificant matter, he revealed a look of despair and helplessness, which made Han Xin, who told him about this, stunned and puzzled.
"… General Xiang has been very generous to me, although I have not yet decided on a reward for you, my good brother." Han Xin stood there at a loss for a moment, remembering how Lü Bu had been picky and disliked the roughness of the food when they had dinner together that night. He thought he understood the crux of the matter, so after thinking for a moment, he tried to comfort him, "It's just wine and meat. Just ask, and I'll give you plenty."
Moreover, in his opinion, even if a banquet was held on time to entertain Liu Bang, Lu Bu's identity was still unclear, so he might not be able to stay at the banquet.
Lu Bu's face was numb. He let out a long howl towards the sky and fell to the ground completely motionless.
—What he was thinking about was the wine and meat at the Hongmen Banquet! It was clearly the head of the man surnamed Liu!