To modern people, it seems impossible to build such a long bridge with the technology of ancient times, but in fact, the construction level of ancient my country was quite advanced.
Leaving aside the Great Wall, any one of the following—the Zheng Guo Canal, the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, the Qin Straight Road, or the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor—would leave modern people in awe.
As for bridge-building technology, the largest recorded bridge is the cross-sea bridge built by Qin Shi Huang for his eastern tour. It is more than 30 li long, and some say it is 40 li long. It is called the Qin Bridge.
Of course, there are legends that the bridge was built by the Dragon King of the East Sea with his divine power for Qin Shi Huang, but in reality, there was no Dragon King; it was built by people.
Getting back to the main point, Xiang Yu wanted to seize the Huai River Bridge, but instead set up camp about ten miles northeast of the bridge and sent out scouts to gather intelligence on the bridge and two other pontoon bridges.
The scouts' reconnaissance report was pretty much what Xiang Yu had expected: the enemy had indeed deployed a large force to defend the Tuyi Bridge. There weren't many troops defending the north side of the bridge, but there were quite a few on the south side.
The defensive forces deployed on the pontoon bridges were similar, but of the two pontoon bridges, only one remained.
It was Zhang Liang who ordered the dismantling of the pontoon bridge, and he didn't just dismantle this one pontoon bridge. To be precise, only two bridges remained on the Huai River between Tushan and Hongze Lake.
After leaving behind the strategy of "Surrounded by Enemies on All Sides," Zhang Liang led his army to Huainan with Fan Kuai, Chai Wu, and others, and even borrowed 5,000 cavalry from Guan Ying.
Because he knew that Xiang Yu would never sit idly by and wait for death. No matter how many troops he had left, Xiang Yu would definitely try to break through the encirclement. Moreover, given Xiang Yu's unparalleled bravery, he was very likely to succeed in breaking through.
Even if Xiang Yu is surrounded and killed at Gaixia, Zhang Liang's move will still be beneficial for the next step of crossing the river. Jiangdong will be conquered sooner or later, so the sooner the better.
If Xiang Yu had successfully broken through from Gaixia, Zhang Liang's arrangements in Huainan would have been able to play a greater role. Zhang Liang was determined not to let Xiang Yu return to Jiangdong.
Several tributaries of the Huai River converge at the west side of Tushan, such as the Fei River and the Wo River. If Xiang Yu were to travel from this side, he would have to cross the river several times to reach Huainan. Therefore, Xiang Yu would inevitably have to cross the Huai River from the east side of Tushan.
However, the Huai River stretches for two to three hundred miles from Tushan to Hongze Lake, making it difficult to determine where Xiang Yu would cross the river. It could have been the Tuyi Bridge, one of the other pontoon bridges, or even a raft.
Zhang Liang didn't have many troops at his disposal, so he couldn't guard all the bridges and the entire Huai River bank. Therefore, he had no choice but to dismantle the bridges, but he couldn't dismantle all of them; he had to leave at least two.
After all, they needed it too, and it's not to say that Xiang Yu would definitely not be able to cross the river without a bridge.
In addition to defending these two bridges, Zhang Liang also deployed scouts extensively along the Huai River and its banks, so that the defenders could respond promptly even if the Chu army wanted to build pontoon bridges or cross the river on rafts elsewhere.
In short, Zhang Liang had made thorough preparations on the south bank of the Huai River, making it difficult for Xiang Yu to lead the Chu army across the Huai River, especially by using the method of seizing the bridge.
If the attack on the defenders north of the bridge is discovered by the defenders south of the bridge, the attempt to seize the bridge will essentially be considered a failure.
The bridge was only a little over three zhang wide, so the Chu army couldn't maneuver properly. The enemy would definitely outnumber the enemy at the south end of the bridge, and if they really felt they couldn't hold it, they could set the bridge on fire.
Xiang Yu and Huan Chu discussed the matter for a while but couldn't come up with a good solution. Instead, they received news from the enemy at Gaixia that reinforcements had arrived. The enemy was small in number but consisted entirely of cavalry, numbering as many as 50,000.
Liu Ji, Zhang Liang, and others were well aware of the power of Xiang Yu's cavalry, which is why they asked Guan Ying to follow Xiang Yu's example and establish a large cavalry army. However, due to the shortage of warhorses and knights, the cavalry force only had 30,000 riders when it was first established.
However, Xiao He was still recruiting soldiers and horses in the rear, and these 50,000 cavalrymen were the result of the expansion of the army during this period.
Guan Ying's original 30,000 cavalry suffered heavy losses in his campaigns, and although he continued to replenish his forces during battles, after last night's battle and the loss of the 5,000 cavalry that Zhang Liang had borrowed, Guan Ying was left with only 10,000 cavalry.
Now that 50,000 reinforcements have arrived, Guan Ying's cavalry force has surged to 60,000. Although they are not as elite as the Chu cavalry, their numbers are enough to overwhelm the Chu army.
In addition, Xiang Yu's personal guard Lü Matong was highly regarded by Liu Ji and was directly assigned to Guan Ying's army, where he was on equal footing with Wang Yi, Yang happy, Lü Sheng, and Yang Wu, becoming one of the Five Tiger Cavalry Generals in Guan Ying's army.
Guan Ying hadn't slept all night and had stayed up all morning, so he sent out the Five Tiger Generals to lead 30,000 cavalry as the vanguard to continue pursuing Xiang Yu, while he himself wanted to get a good night's sleep.
In Guan Ying's view, with 30,000 cavalry, five times the strength of Xiang Yu's army, even if they could not annihilate the Chu army, there was absolutely no reason for them to fail. Moreover, the strategist Zhang Liang had already laid a trap in Huainan. What could Xiang Yu and the Chu army do but sigh at the Huai River?
By this time, it was already dark, and Xiang Yu, accompanied by two scouts, arrived near the Tuyi Bridge.
In order to seize the Tuyi Bridge before the pursuers arrived, Xiang Yu needed to see the situation there with his own eyes.
"Has the Overlord come up with any strategy to defeat the enemy?" Hao Jiu couldn't help but ask.
"There are still patrolling soldiers on the bridge, which means the enemy hasn't destroyed it yet. I can lead an elite force to break through the defenses on the north bank and rush to the south bank. If we're fast enough, we should have a chance to capture the bridge." After scouting the area, Xiang Yu concluded that speed was the only way to win.
Hao Jiu thought for a moment, "Zhang Liang should have been able to anticipate that Xiang Yu would use this method to seize the bridge. Given that the enemy was prepared, how confident did Xiang Yu think he was?"
Xiang Yu's lips curled slightly. "I wasn't very confident to begin with, but since the God of Wine has said so, he must already have a good plan, right?"
"Haha, I do have an idea, let's see if Bawang dares to do it." Hao Jiu laughed smugly.
"Hahaha, what is there to be afraid of?" Xiang Yu suddenly felt extremely happy. Since the passing of his advisor Fan Zeng, there had been no one who could truly advise him.
And now, he has finally met another master, or rather, a god.
What Xiang Yu lacked most was a strategist!
Chapter 40 Battle of the Huai River (Part Two)
South of Tuyi Bridge, the Han army camp.
Zhang Liang held up a bronze lamp in one hand and pointed to the Huai River on the map with the other, slowly moving to the right. First, he passed the Tuyi Bridge, then the Dongfu Bridge, and finally stopped at a place called Mohekou.
There used to be a pontoon bridge there, but Zhang Liang demolished it not long ago.
Further to the right of the Mohekou, the Huai River no longer flows from west to east, but instead makes a large 'U' bend to the south, about forty li away, before returning to the same level as the Mohekou and continuing to flow eastward.
However, it is not marked on the map that the small village at the very bottom of the 'U' shape is called Guantangpu.
According to intelligence, Xiang Yu split his infantry and cavalry forces, which had been captured from the Jiujiang army, and broke out southwards in two separate routes.
Xiang Yu's cavalry was stationed closer to the East Floating Bridge, while the infantry's route extended south to the Huai River, where they converged at the mouth of the Mo River.
"If the Chu infantry discovers that the pontoon bridge at the mouth of the Mo River has been dismantled, where will they cross the river?" Zhang Liang stroked his beard.
Chai Wu thought Zhang Liang was asking him a question, so he walked over and pointed to the East Floating Bridge. "Strategist, in my humble opinion, both Xiang Yu's infantry and cavalry will use the East Floating Bridge. The infantry is too far from Tushan."
Zhang Liang smiled and said, "Then why can't the Chu army build pontoon bridges themselves at the mouth of the Mo River or elsewhere? Why doesn't Xiang Yu come here to seize the Tu Yi Bridge?"
Chai Wu was speechless. "Uh, what brilliant idea does the strategist have?"
Zhang Liang shook his head helplessly. "Xiang Yu is good at using ingenious strategies, and I can't be sure either, but one thing is certain: the infantry and cavalry will definitely not cross the river in the same place. After Xiang Yu divided his troops, he deliberately slowed down the cavalry's marching speed, just to wait for the infantry, right?"
Not only did he not want to use this infantry to cover the rear, he used himself as bait to buy time for the infantry. Otherwise, after Xiang Yu broke through the Jiujiang army's defenses and led his cavalry at breakneck speed, we probably wouldn't even have had time to dismantle the bridge.
“Since Xiang Yu values these infantry so much, why don’t we send cavalry to encircle and annihilate them? Guan Ying’s cavalry army now numbers 60,000, and sending half of them would be enough to wipe out those Jiujiang troops who have repeatedly surrendered,” Chai Wu asked doubtfully.
"General Chai is right. If our army wants to wipe out this infantry, it will be easy. But the question is, without this infantry, will Xiang Yu slow down and willingly become bait? Can 30,000 cavalry really defeat Xiang Yu?"
"It's pointless to annihilate this infantry force without killing Xiang Yu, because they were never Xiang Yu's trusted troops to begin with. If we kill Xiang Yu, not only this fickle surrendered army, but even Xiang Yu's true core forces will surrender."
"I see..." Chai Wu suddenly realized.
"In order to continue to act as bait, Xiang Yu would have to keep his distance from that infantry force, and it is very likely that he would not join forces with them before crossing the Yangtze River."
Xiang Bo's previous intelligence indicated that Xiang Yu was going to take the route through Yinling. Now, Xiang Yu has changed his plans and is breaking out ahead of schedule. However, Xiang Yu often takes risky moves, so he will most likely continue to take the route through Yinling.
We have fewer soldiers. If Xiang Yu had only broken through with a few hundred cavalry, we might have had a chance to pin him down on the south bank of the Huai River. But now Xiang Yu has six thousand elite cavalry in his hands.
It's not that I underestimate General Chai, but even if you and I joined forces, we probably couldn't stop Xiang Yu from crossing the Huai River. We could only try to delay and wear down the Chu army.
When the pursuing troops arrived, the various armies took turns harassing and nibbling away at the Chu army. Finally, they fought a decisive battle with Xiang Yu in the Dongcheng and Liyang area on the west bank of the Yangtze River, which was the only way to completely annihilate Xiang Yu.
"If we're talking about natural defenses, how can the Huai River compare to the Yangtze? Let Xiang Yu fight a decisive battle with his back to the river. I want to see just how many soldiers this war god can slay, and whether he's truly a match for ten thousand men." Zhang Liang's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Could it be that General Fan Kuai went to the riverbank?" Chai Wu thought to himself, thinking to himself, "These scheming people are really wicked."
"Haha, that's right. General Chai is guarding the Huai River, General Fan is guarding the Yangtze River, and I'm heading to Yinling right away." Zhang Liang rubbed his hands together; it seemed he was going to have to travel through the night again.
"Then what should we do?" Although Chai Wu had assembled an army of more than 10,000 men after arriving in Huainan, he was really not sure if he could stop Xiang Yu with these troops.
Zhang Liang smiled slightly, "Ignore that Chu infantry force and focus all your efforts on defending the two bridges. If Xiang Yu is about to capture one bridge, destroy it immediately and the entire army will retreat to defend the other bridge."
"What if Xiang Yu also breaches the other bridge?" Chai Wu asked somewhat awkwardly, but he couldn't avoid the question.
"Naturally, we should also destroy the bridge, then go back to the bridge that was destroyed earlier to hold it, and try to repair it to receive reinforcements from the north bank."
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the vanguard of the reinforcements will catch up with Xiang Yu's army and engage in battle soon. At that point, the pressure on you will be much less, so just try to stall for time.
If you can hold out until Guan Ying's main force arrives, and Xiang Yu fails to cross the Huai River, then perhaps the great achievement of capturing and killing Xiang Yu will fall to you.
General Chai can send men to closely monitor the movements of the Chu cavalry. If they fail to seize the bridge and instead attempt to cross the river using rafts, then launch a surprise attack while they are crossing. No matter how strong Xiang Yu is, if he cannot reach the shore, he will only face death.
"I'm leaving the Huai River area to you. I'll take a thousand cavalry with me and leave you a thousand. That should be enough, right?" Zhang Liang said, and walked towards the door without waiting for Chai Wu's reply.
"Yes." Chai Wu clasped his hands in a respectful bow. He didn't need too many cavalry; defending the bridge mainly relied on infantry.
After Zhang Liang left, Chai Wu decisively increased the number of soldiers on guard and patrolling the two bridges. His first priority was to hold out until the reinforcements arrived. He had to get through the night no matter what.
Hopefully, Xiang Yu will rest peacefully tonight and won't try to seize the bridge...
However, Xiang Yu, having made arrangements, had already led a hundred agile elite soldiers to quietly ambush the area near the north end of the Tuyi Bridge, surrounding the enemy forces to the north and capturing two enemy scouts.
Just as the two scouts were about to go to the south bank to report the news, the Chu cavalry army was already heading towards the Tuyi Bridge.
Following Hao Jiu's advice, Xiang Yu selected three thousand elite troops, wrapped their horses' hooves in hemp cloth, and had them carry straw in their mouths and gags in their mouths, marching silently to launch a surprise attack on the bridge.
However, Xiang Yu's first priority was to annihilate the enemy forces north of the bridge as quietly as possible.
Tuyi Bridge North Camp.
Because Chai Wu issued an order to increase the number of sentries, half of the soldiers in the Qiaobei military camp went to stand guard, while the other half went to bed early to prepare for the night shift change.
"Why are there so many guards now?" Hao Jiu's lips twitched violently. He originally planned to have Xiang Yu play the role of Rambo, sneaking into the military camp and wiping them out in one fell swoop. However, after everything was ready, the enemy suddenly reinforced their troops, making the difficulty increase several times over. The defensive loopholes that had been previously discovered were also basically plugged.
"It's alright, it'll just take a little more effort." Xiang Yu originally wanted to charge straight in, so what if the other side discovered him?
But after hearing Hao Jiu's plan, he changed his mind.
"That's true..." Hao Jiu realized he had been overthinking things; the Overlord was much more powerful than Rambo.
"Issue my order: when you hear the sounds of battle in the camp, you may rush in to meet us." After saying this, Xiang Yu walked straight to the Huai River.
"Here you go."
Hao Jiu raised the corners of his mouth; the show was about to begin...
Chapter 41 Battle of the Huai River (Part 3)
The Han army's small camp was semi-circular, encompassing the entire northern bridgehead. The camp walls were very loose fences, appearing to be poorly constructed. The southern side didn't even have a fence, instead using the Huai River as a substitute, leaving many gaps in its defenses.
It's not that this army was so bad that even the battalions couldn't stand guard, but rather that this military camp wasn't built for garrisoning. As soon as the Chu army arrived, they could retreat as soon as the signal fire was lit.
Moreover, there were scouts outside monitoring the Chu army's movements. They could hear the thousands of warhorses marching two miles away clearly, and the garrison had long since fled before the Chu army arrived.
Their only fear was that they were running too slowly, while the defenders south of the bridge were burning it too quickly.
As for the idea that someone would infiltrate the military camp and kill them all, they never imagined that anyone would do such a thing before.
...
When the patrol team on the bridge passed the midpoint from north to south, the Chu army's operation to seize the bridge officially began.