With mud smeared on his face and dressed in black, Xiang Yu, holding a bow and arrow, rode a simple raft made of several logs and drifted downstream under the cover of night until he reached the south side of the enemy camp.
Whoosh!
A flash of black light, and a sharp arrow struck an enemy sentry who was looking in their direction right between the eyebrows. The man's body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.
The sentry next to him was about to speak when he realized that something had pierced his throat, and he couldn't make a sound. The second arrow arrived at almost the same time as the first one.
At the same time, Xiang Yu used his legs to leap from the raft onto the shore and successfully infiltrated the enemy camp.
"Overlord, as I just said, arrange these two corpses properly first," Hao Jiu reminded him.
Xiang Yu frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, but still walked over and planted the weapons of the two soldiers in the ground. Then he made the two corpses sit down with their arms clasped together, looking like a pair of good buddies.
At this moment, another larger raft drifted over, and twenty agile men in black infiltrated the military camp one after another, heading straight for the sleeping enemy soldiers.
Originally, Xiang Yu could have handled it alone, but he disdained to attack the sleeping soldiers and was unwilling to act stealthily, so he had to find some helpers.
Soon, twenty elite Chu soldiers dealt with the sleeping enemy soldiers, and then, in groups of five, they launched a surprise attack on the soldiers on guard duty from behind.
Xiang Yu, on the other hand, strolled around the enemy camp as if he were back in the Chu camp, not even bothering to change into the enemy's armor.
The first to suffer were the messenger soldier holding the gong, followed by the two soldiers guarding a large pile of firewood.
This pile of firewood was also a means of communication for the enemy; someone was always stationed there, ready to light it at any time.
In ancient times, the most common ways to send messages were shouting, using bells and gongs, riding fast horses, lighting fires, and beacon fires. The distance between the north and south banks of the Huai River was nearly two hundred zhang, so the best way was to light a fire, and the fire had to be big enough.
After Xiang Yu occupied this pile of firewood, he could basically ensure that the battle on the north bank would not be known to the south bank.
With the sound of flowing water interfering, it's quite difficult to send a message to the other side by shouting.
Even the patrol team on the bridge might not be able to hear clearly when they reached the middle of the Huai River, unless there was someone in the enemy army with a voice like Xiang Yu's.
With the situation unclear, the patrol team dared not make wild guesses or reports. If the Chu army were truly attacking, the noise would surely be very loud.
Xiang Yu unleashed a barrage of arrows, killing every enemy soldier within his sight instantly, without even giving them a chance to cry out.
But the other twenty men couldn't do that; no matter how well they attacked, the enemy couldn't remain unaware forever.
"Enemy attack... Ah!"
However, after this warning, more than half of the enemy soldiers looked towards the outside of the camp.
"Chu soldiers have infiltrated the camp! Quickly, light a fire... Ah!"
Before the Han army junior officer could finish speaking, he was shot dead by Xiang Yu with an arrow. Then, Xiang Yu drew his bow again with great speed, but this time he did not release the arrow.
"The Hegemon-King of Western Chu is here! Which of you wants to die?"
Xiang Yu's voice wasn't loud, but everyone present could hear it clearly.
"Hiss..." Everyone gasped in shock.
Snap, snap...
Weapons fell to the ground one after another. Although they still outnumbered the Chu army that had infiltrated the camp, they still chose to surrender decisively, without even having the courage to run away.
Soon after, the camp gates opened wide, and three thousand Chu soldiers approached from afar.
Xiang Yu whistled, and his black horse galloped over from afar. Unlike before, this time the black horse was also wearing horse armor.
At the same time, soldiers brought Xiang Yu's armor. After he was fully dressed, Xiang Yu rode his black horse toward the bridge.
Interrogating the surrendered soldiers revealed that the commander guarding the south bank of the Huai River was Chai Wu, and that he had already prepared to set fire to the bridge.
But it is clear that Chai Wu also wanted to save the bridge, and he would only burn it if he was certain that he could not save it.
In this situation, if Xiang Yu led several thousand cavalry straight ahead, and perhaps scared Chai Wu and the defending troops so much that they burned the bridge before even fighting, then this attempt to seize the bridge would have failed.
It sounds unbelievable that we have to consider the enemy's psychological resilience when fighting a war, but that's the reality.
The most difficult part of capturing the Tuyi Bridge lies here.
The Huai River is a natural dividing line between northern and southern my country. The Huai River usually freezes in winter in the north, but not in the south.
But at this moment, it was really cold on the Tuyi Bridge.
The Han army patrolmen were shivering and huddled up, but thankfully they only needed to make one more round before they could return to camp to rest.
"Sir, it looks like someone is coming from ahead, and they're riding horses." The soldier walking in front shaded his eyes with his hand.
"It's probably a scout returning with news. Everyone move aside and make way for him." The Han army junior officer could only make out the outline of the horseman in the dark.
However, a moment later, the Han army junior officer realized something was wrong.
If it were a scout, firstly, there would be the sound of hooves, and secondly, the man and horse seemed not to be running at all, but walking slowly.
"So tall..." The soldiers in front of them gaped in astonishment.
"Xiang, Xiang Yu? It's Xiang Yu! Run back quickly!"
The Han army junior officer's hair stood on end, and he turned and ran. Luckily, he had once caught a glimpse of Xiang Yu from afar, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. Just thinking about having an encounter with Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, on the bridge made him want to pee his pants.
"Why don't we follow them and charge over to capture this bridge in one fell swoop?" Xiang Yu continued riding forward at a leisurely pace.
Hao Jiu was also somewhat tempted, but still felt it wasn't safe. "Let's stick to the original plan. The enemy might not care about the lives of these dozen or so people."
“That’s right, a merciful general can’t command an army…” Xiang Yu quickened his pace, maintaining a distance of about five zhang from the fleeing soldiers ahead.
"Help! Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, is coming!" A dozen Han soldiers ran for their lives, shouting as they ran.
This situation is worse than death; that was the war god Xiang Yu!
...
South of the bridge, the Han army camp.
Chai Wu thought about it and still felt uneasy, so he left the central command tent and went to inspect the bridgehead himself.
As he approached the bridge, he suddenly heard a commotion over there, so he quickened his pace and ran over, bumping into a soldier at the bend.
"Ouch... General!"
Chai Wu was knocked off balance and stumbled, while the other person landed hard on their backside.
What's the matter?
"General! Xiang Yu is about to reach this bridgehead! Please make a decision quickly!" The messenger said, sitting on the ground without even getting up.
Chai Wu was startled. "Then hurry up and set the bridge on fire! Wait a minute! Something's not right with that sound. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"General, Xiang Yu has indeed attacked, but he's only one man. Should we still burn the bridge?" The soldiers were still in a daze.
Chai Wu was taken aback for a moment, "One person? Then of course... we can't burn it!"
Chapter 42 Battle of the Huai River (Part 4)
The south end of Tuyi Bridge is brightly lit, and the closer you get, the clearer the view becomes.
On the bridge, a dozen or so people, shouting and yelling, finally reached the end, and then...
They tumbled and splashed, ouch, yelp, and fell into a heap, some even accidentally falling into the river.
Xiang Yu frowned. Not only was there a lot of dry firewood piled up on the bridgehead ahead, but it was also covered with a lot of oil. The soldiers had just slipped and fallen because they had forgotten about the oil in their haste.
However, this is standard procedure; without a flammable material, the wooden bridge wouldn't burn down so easily.
When Chai Wu arrived, he saw the soldiers lying sprawled on their backs, and there was really only Xiang Yu on the bridge!
Should we set the bridge on fire or not?
Why burn it?
Why did Xiang Yu come here alone?
Could they be here for peace talks?
Chai Wu suddenly felt that his brain was not working properly. His strategist Zhang Liang had never taught him how to deal with this situation!
"General, Xiang Yu is about to charge over. Should we light the fire or not? It might be too late if we wait any longer!" Liu Mang, the deputy general guarding the bridgehead, was also a little confused, but fortunately he could still ask Chai Wu.
"Uh, this..." Chai Wu was indeed a little scared when he saw Xiang Yu coming, but Xiang Yu was only one person. If he ordered the bridge to be burned now, wouldn't that be too embarrassing?
At this moment, Xiang Yu had caught up with the enemy patrolmen who had fallen in front of the pile of firewood. Without saying a word, he raised his halberd and killed most of them as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. The rest were lucky enough to tumble and crawl off the bridge.
"General! I've heard that the King of Han is offering a reward of ten thousand households for Xiang Yu's head. Is that true?" The Han army junior officer beside him had greed in his eyes.
Chai Wu suddenly realized what was happening. "Don't light the fire! Let Xiang Yu in, then capture him! If he resists, kill him without mercy!"
"Yes!" These soldiers had been waiting for Chai Wu to say this. How could they refuse such a great opportunity that was offered to them?
If Chai Wu had actually ordered the fire to be lit and startled Xiang Yu away, these soldiers would have hated him to death.
Xiang Yu slightly raised the corners of his mouth; the God of Wine's plan had succeeded!
The most difficult part of capturing this bridge was preventing the enemy from burning it. If Xiang Yu had really led his cavalry army to attack, the bridge would have been on fire just now.
Even if the Chu army were brave enough to charge through the fire, they might not be able to get through many of them when the bridge collapsed. Besides, people aren't afraid of fire, but warhorses are.
If even a few warhorses hesitated to advance, the cavalry behind them would be blocked.
It wasn't difficult for Xiang Yu to break through the enemy's defenses with a small number of elite troops, but it was extremely difficult to safely bring six thousand cavalrymen and Yu Ji across the Huai River.
This is the brilliance of Hao Jiu's strategy: perfectly exploiting the enemy's desire to capture and kill Xiang Yu to gain merit.
Of course, only Xiang Yu dared to use this plan; anyone else would have been sent to their death.
Xiang Yu had just seen the soldiers slip and fall, so he deliberately slowed down. In addition, the hemp cloth wrapped around the horse's hooves also helped to prevent slipping, so the black horse did not slip.
After killing those soldiers, Xiang Yu raised his halberd and swept it left and right at the pile of firewood at the bridgehead. With a whoosh, most of the firewood was swept away.
However, Chai Wu had long since given up on setting the bridge on fire; he now only wanted to lure Xiang Yu to the south bank for a more convenient encirclement and attack.
With such a monumental achievement right before their eyes, even Zhang Liang, with his extraordinary wisdom and resourcefulness, probably couldn't have foreseen this situation.
All those arrangements, like the Yinling and Liyang tombs, are utterly useless...
Chai Wu became more and more excited as he watched Xiang Yu rush down the bridge and charge straight towards him, annihilating all the soldiers and lights that passed by.
"Quickly surround and kill Xiang Yu! Whoever kills Xiang Yu will be ennobled as a marquis of ten thousand households!" Chai Wu ordered, and at the same time, he decisively retreated. Xiang Yu's attempt to play the "capture the king first" trick was out of the question!
"Kill!" Xiang Yu rode his black horse like a tank, rampaging through the enemy ranks. Those soldiers who had come to attack with the dream of becoming marquises died swiftly and decisively.
Enemy soldiers were constantly being knocked away by Xiang Yu, either crashing into other soldiers or extinguishing a fire.