After saying this, Xiang Yu turned and left, still smiling. With the God of Wine around, Zhang Liang had become dispensable, especially since he was a Zhang Liang with ulterior motives.
Zhang Liang narrowed his eyes. Such a perfect strategy—how could Xiang Yu not be interested? Where exactly did he slip up…?
Soon after, Liu Ji's main force finally arrived at the north bank of the Huai River.
Lu Ze glanced at the Tuyi Bridge and felt that taking it back would be as difficult as climbing to heaven, even though the Chu army had only burned a small section of the bridge on the south side.
After some discussion, Lü Ze still ordered the construction of rafts in preparation for crossing the river.
However, Lu Ze requested a considerable number of rafts. He planned to spend a whole day building them and then use their numerical advantage to cross the river simultaneously with multiple rafts the next day.
In this way, the numerical disadvantage of the Chu army will be continuously amplified, and they will not even have a reserve force to relieve them, so they will be defeated sooner or later.
Xiang Yu was well aware of Lü Ze's intentions; in fact, he was quite prepared for it, since there were no other good options available.
As a result, cavalry patrolled the entire south bank of the Huai River, while the infantry rested for a day before setting out at night.
Tu Yi was Liu Ji's temporary residence.
"Still no news of the strategist?" Liu Ji paced around the room like a headless fly.
"Not yet. Your Majesty, please be patient. If things become unmanageable, the strategist can still protect himself," Lü Ze replied truthfully.
Upon learning that Guan Ying had only been injured and not killed in Guantangpu, Liu Ji was initially relieved, seemingly having escaped the danger of losing his arm.
But upon further reflection, Xiang Yu now has 40,000 troops in Huainan, while the Han army in Huainan is less than half the size of the Chu army, so there is a risk of total annihilation.
The main reason for this situation was the unsuccessful blocking of the Huai River, which allowed too many Chu troops to escape to Huainan, far exceeding Zhang Liang's expectations.
Fortunately, Xiang Yu was not without flaws. He was greedy and wanted to hold the Huai River and reclaim Jiujiang County, thus missing the great opportunity to encircle the Han army in Huainan. Moreover, he was arrogant and only led 500 cavalry to Yinling, which gave Zhang Liang the opportunity to surround and annihilate him.
However, since the last intelligence report, there has been no news of Zhang Liang for a long time, which makes Liu Ji increasingly uneasy.
On the one hand, he hoped that Zhang Liang could achieve great merit by capturing and killing Xiang Yu, while on the other hand, he was worried about Zhang Liang's safety.
If anyone in the Han army could be considered Liu Ji's right-hand man, Zhang Liang would certainly be one, and Xiao He would be the other.
Without Zhang Liang's advice, Liu Ji would not have won the empire; without Xiao He's command of logistics, Liu Ji would also not have won the empire, and might even have missed out on the talent of Han Xin.
Liu Ji would be heartbroken to lose either of these two.
Xiao He was safe in the rear, but Zhang Liang was going to face Xiang Yu directly.
Just then, a soldier came to report.
"Report! Your Majesty! Urgent military intelligence!" A scout rushed in, flustered.
"Is this intelligence from the strategist?" Liu Ji's face paled. The scout's expression was anything but good. Could it be...?
"Your Majesty, it's not the strategist who brought the intelligence, but rather intelligence about the strategist himself. The Chu army has a tight defense on the south bank of the Huai River, and I took a long detour, which is why it's only arriving now. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." The scout wiped his sweat.
"You are innocent, speak quickly!" Liu Ji's heart sank upon hearing this.
The scout bowed and said, "In the Battle of Yinling, the strategist had already laid a trap to deal with Xiang Yu, but unexpectedly, Xi Juan's army, which was rushing from Shouchun to Yinling to provide support, was defeated by Huan Chu's cavalry, resulting in the strategist being attacked from both sides and suffering a defeat at Yinling..."
Lu Ze slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Hey! What besieging Zhongli County, what taking only five hundred cavalry to Yinling, it seems to be all a trick by the Chu army."
"How is the strategist now?" Liu Ji was a little unsteady, but fortunately Lü Ze came over to support him. What could be done?
"Your Majesty, the strategist has led the remaining troops to surrender to Xiang Yu," the scout said weakly, bowing his head.
"You're saying Zhang Liang surrendered to Xiang Yu? How is that possible! Why did Zifang betray me? Why didn't he run away?" Liu Ji's eyes widened suddenly. The dream had indeed come true. Losing Zhang Liang was like losing an arm.
"Your Majesty, the strategist must have had no choice. He was surrounded by Xiang Yu, and he would die if he didn't surrender," the scout replied truthfully.
Liu Ji breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew... I see. Surrendering is better than dying. Anyway, this isn't the first time the strategist has followed Xiang Yu. Maybe he can even be an inside agent for our army."
"Your Majesty, the strategist has already deceived Xiang Yu once. How can Xiang Yu still trust him?" Lü Ze asked doubtfully.
"Xiang Yu is arrogant and proud, but he has a special affection for Zhang Liang. Not only will he not kill him, he might even give him an important position. The strategist has plenty of ways to help him," Liu Ji said confidently.
"I hope so..." Lu Ze had something else to say, but he was afraid that Zhang Liang's only way to survive was to offer a pledge of allegiance and sincerely surrender to Xiang Yu. He imagined that the battles to come would become even more difficult.
"Alright, now that we have news from the strategist, General, you should go and rest early. We still have to attack Huainan early tomorrow morning, and I'm tired too." Liu Ji yawned.
"Yes, sir." Lu Ze bowed respectfully and slowly withdrew.
Liu Ji slowly raised his hands and covered his face, "Waaah... my Zifang..."
At dawn the following day, Lü Ze issued an order to launch a simultaneous attack on Huainan across the entire front.
Countless rafts were thrown into the water, filled with Han soldiers, with shield bearers in front, spearmen in the middle, and archers in the rear, and they surged toward the south bank of the Huai River.
Lu Ze nervously watched the opposite bank. If the raft entered the range of the Chu army's arrows, it would likely suffer a devastating blow. He didn't know how many soldiers would be lost in this battle.
However, time was of the essence. Given that Zhang Liang had surrendered to Xiang Yu, the later they crossed the river, the more unfavorable the situation would become, and they had no choice but to accept the higher price they had to pay.
The area from Tuyi to Guantangpu was the area where the Han army crossed the river to fight, while the area east of Guantangpu was the responsibility of Ying Bu's Huainan army.
After learning that Xiang Yu planned to hold the Huai River, Ying Bu was extremely uneasy. He was the King of Huainan, and in theory, with Zhou Yin dead, the entire Huainan region should have been his territory.
But Xiang Yu actually wanted to seize Huainan from him, how could Ying Bu not be anxious?
In Ying Bu's view, although he and Lü Ze had a large army, Xiang Yu had the Huai River as a barrier, and it would be extremely difficult to capture the city if they really wanted to hold it.
The best approach would be to assemble a large army from Hengshan County to the west of Jiujiang County and Donghai County to the east, thus bypassing Xiang Yu's Huai River defense line.
However, Lü Ze rejected this plan and chose to cross the river directly from Huaibei to launch an attack, for reasons that were naturally quite valid.
The troops in Hengshan and Donghai counties are not many. If the main force of Huaibei were to detour, it would take them at least three or four hundred li to march. Not only would it be time-consuming, but once the Chu army finds out, they will surely rush to establish a new defensive line in front of them.
"Thank God..." Ying Bu could only hope that the Chu army would shift its defensive focus to the Han army.
The Huai River is only a couple hundred feet wide, and the leading raft quickly approached the south bank, entering the range of arrows.
However, the anticipated tragedy did not occur.
Ying Bu was overjoyed. Could it be that the Chu army had really used all its forces to block the Han army?
However, Ying Bu quickly dismissed the idea, because his army had successfully reached the other side of the river without encountering any resistance!
"Hiss... This isn't right, could it be..."
"The Chu army actually abandoned the Huai River defense line!" A chill ran down Lü Ze's spine; the Chu army had vanished overnight...
"Ah!" Liu Ji woke up from his dream again, this time losing his beloved right hand!
Chapter 64 Fan Kuai Run!
The Chu army's proactive withdrawal from the Huai River was fundamentally different from the Chu army's retreat from the Huai River after a fierce battle where it was defeated by the Han army.
Overnight, not a single Chu soldier was left on the Huainan defense line. Anyone would be suspicious.
"Could it be a trap?" Lu Ze thought about it carefully and realized that it was indeed possible. Xiang Yu probably understood that he couldn't hold the Huai River by force, so he wanted to retreat in order to advance, let them cross the river first, and then turn back to attack when half of the army had crossed.
It should be noted that the Chu army had a considerable number of cavalry, so a surprise attack was quite normal.
"Hiss..." Lu Ze thought about it more and more and felt it was possible. "Send down the order: those who cross the river first, immediately build defensive fortifications to prevent the Chu army from counterattacking! At the same time, quickly build pontoon bridges and repair the Tu Yi Bridge! Send out as many scouts as possible and find out the army's whereabouts as soon as possible!"
"Here you go!"
...
At the same time, Ying Bu also issued a similar order: as long as more pontoon bridges are built, even if Xiang Yu really counterattacks, the reinforcements on the north bank can be supplied, and Xiang Yu will have no way to deal with it.
"I'm sorry, King Xiang, I've seen through your plan this time. To hand over the Huai River defense line so easily, King Xiang, you certainly have the guts. It's a pity you've tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead." Ying Bu smiled smugly.
The Tuyi Bridge was quickly repaired, and the three cavalry armies of Lü Sheng, Yang Wu, and Lü Matong crossed the bridge first, and everything went very smoothly.
"No trace of Chu troops has been found within a radius of thirty miles?" Liu Ji could hardly believe his ears. He had thought that the dream he had this morning about a severed hand was another sign of a major defeat.
"That's right, and our army is prepared. Even if the Chu army counterattacks now, I'm confident we can hold the south bank. Xiang Yu can't stop us anymore." Lü Ze's lips curled up; he had finally won against Xiang Yu this time.
"Excellent!" Although Liu Ji still felt something was amiss, since Lü Ze had said so, he had no reason to doubt it. The Han army desperately needed a victory.
Perhaps Xiang Yu made a mistake and it was related to Zhang Liang. After all, Xiang Yu had previously been poised to seize the opportunity to reclaim Jiujiang County. There weren't many people who could change Xiang Yu's mind, and Xiang Yu had no reason to give up such a good opportunity.
"Your Majesty, please make your preparations and then cross the bridge. This humble general will go ahead first."
"Yes, go ahead, go ahead."
After Lü Ze left, Liu Ji rubbed his forehead and said, "Hey Lao Hei, something feels off. Why didn't Xiang Yu defend the Huai River? What was he doing there?"
"How would I know such a thing? If you're still worried, then you can increase your luck a bit more," the black dragon said lazily.
"Again? I've done quite a few wicked things lately, and besides, who am I supposed to kill? I need to keep Liu You alive to save my life, or use him in the final battle. I can't kill him for now." Liu Ji was also helpless. If killing anyone could improve one's luck, that would be easy, but unfortunately, that's not the case.
"You don't necessarily have to kill to save your life. Don't you still have Consort Qi by your side? I can tell that she has already fallen for you. If you betray her, the effect might be even better than with Empress Lü back then. Heh heh, anyway, you have enough women."
What Heilong admired most about Liu Ji was this: he was willing to use his own family and wife as bait and cannon fodder. With such a decisive mindset, how could he not achieve great things?
Liu Ji's face darkened. "How could Qi Ji be compared to those ordinary beauties? Fine, I won't ask you anymore. Besides improving your luck, you don't know anything else. However, if I were to lose to Xiang Yu, you probably wouldn't fare any better, would you? That system would definitely seek revenge on you."
"Who says I can't do anything else? Without the little blue pills I gave you, would you be in such good health? But what you said makes some sense, so let me analyze the current situation for you. Maybe it will be helpful." Black Dragon is also a top-notch AI system, so analyzing the existing intelligence is naturally no problem for him. His analytical ability is also much stronger than that of ordinary people.
"Great!" Liu Ji was excited. He had only tried it out of curiosity, but he didn't expect the Black Dragon to actually help him. In the past, the Black Dragon only gave bad advice and stole his luck. If you wanted to ask him for a pill, you had to exchange your luck for it.
"First of all, Xiang Yu was definitely not scared away by your crossing formation. Instead, he took the initiative to retreat under the cover of night. It was something Xiang Yu had planned long ago. The reason he put on a show of defending the Huai River was probably because of your strategist Zhang Liang."
Perhaps it was during the capture of Tuyi Bridge that Xiang Yu learned from the surrendered soldiers that Zhang Liang had brought a small number of troops to Huainan. Xiang Yu then decided to abandon his defense of the Huai River, which shows that in his heart Zhang Liang was more important than the entire Jiujiang Commandery.
So Xiang Yu used a feint to deceive you and Lü Ze, but more importantly, he wanted to deceive Zhang Liang. If Zhang Liang learned that the Tuyi Bridge had fallen, or even that the entire 40,000-strong Chu army had crossed the Huai River, he would have fled immediately, and Xiang Yu would not have been able to capture Zhang Liang.
Now that Zhang Liang has fallen into Xiang Yu's hands, the Chu army no longer needs to put on the show on the banks of the Huai River. And because Lü Ze did not cross the river to fight immediately, the Chu army was not in a hurry to retreat. They only withdrew overnight after they had rested enough. Is that right? "Heilong said quietly.
"Oh, I see. But you still haven't said what Xiang Yu went to do? Xiang Yu isn't the kind of coward who would flee to Jiangdong when he had the upper hand," Liu Ji asked, puzzled.
"Why are you in such a hurry? The problem lies in the timing of Xiang Yu's retreat. Because Xiang Yu did not know that Lü Ze would spend a whole day preparing so many rafts, and he only launched the general attack the next day."
"So, if Xiang Yu deliberately abandoned the Huai River defense line because he was targeting Zhang Liang, then given that Zhang Liang had been captured and Lü Ze had not attacked, Xiang Yu had no reason to abandon the Huai River defense line. But Xiang Yu retreated in a planned manner. What does this prove?" Black Dragon asked rhetorically.
"Uh, I don't know." Liu Ji thought to himself, "If I knew, why would I be asking you?"
"This shows that Xiang Yu believed that the benefits of holding the Huai River were not as great as the benefits of withdrawing his troops now. One of the benefits was that he could bring 40,000 troops back to Jiangdong, preserve the Chu army's fighting strength, and avoid a decisive battle with our main force. But this one benefit alone was obviously not enough. So think about what else Xiang Yu could do on his way to Jiangdong?"
Black Dragon stopped talking at this point, because the answer was already obvious.
Liu Ji slumped down, his eyes glazed over. "The strategist sent Fan Kuai to the riverbank to seize boats as the last line of defense to prevent Xiang Yu from returning to Jiangdong. If no one informs Fan Kuai to retreat... Fan Kuai, run!"
South of Liyang City, at Fan Kuai's military camp.
"Reporting to the general, the last batch of ships has arrived. Should they also be hidden on that island in the middle of the river?" Vice General Sun asked, clasping his hands in greeting.
As soon as Fan Kuai's army arrived at the riverbank, they began to seize ferries. Although Liyang City refused to surrender, the city's garrison was small and dared not leave the city to stop them.