The whole army pressed forward.

After understanding that there was no way out, Liu Bang was like a gambler who lost with only one pair of underpants left. He bared his buttocks desperately and took out the last piece of fig leaf as a bet.

"I have lived for more than fifty years. I have also sat on the dragon couch in Xianyang, been a prince, and slept with beautiful women. What else is there that I am not satisfied with? Now, I, Liu Ji, will work hard for my brothers.

In the last game, Zhou Bo, just wait, I, Liu Ji, am not dead yet, and I won’t let you down."

With despair and tragic mood, Liu Bang took the remaining 100,000 Han troops from Yingdu and embarked on the northern expedition. This time, he could no longer escape and could no longer escape.

Have to admit it.

Liu Bang, a brave man, was also a very courageous man.

At the beginning, he was able to kill the white snake and make a group of petty officials and gangsters in Peixian County follow him to death, which is enough to prove his personal charm. If it were not for his complacency after becoming king, and unfortunately he met Li Yuan.

Kill the star, Liu Bang is now the leader of the princes, and he is fooling a bunch of princes into counterattacking Xiang Yu.

Reputation is an excellent weapon to recruit talents. In the past, Liu Bang used his reputation as an elder to be benevolent and righteous to attract insightful people one after another. But now, he has to pay the price for this.

The vanguard of the Han army, with Ruyin Hou Xia Houying as the general and Guan Ying as the deputy general, led more than 20,000 Han soldiers to go north first, clearing roads along the mountains and building bridges when encountering water. Liu Bang led the main force to follow up, which was a day's journey away.

, the Han army clearly learned the lesson of being constantly harassed by the Qin army. They only drove away the small groups of Qin army harassing troops along the road, and never pursued them deeply.

After losing many old brothers one after another, Liu Bang trusted fewer and fewer people. Even Guan Ying, a smooth and rude cloth seller, now found it difficult to gain Liu Bang's approval.

In his early years, Xia Houying always appeared as the driver and bodyguard of Liu Bang's chariot. When Cao Shen, Zhou Bo and other old brothers were beheading generals and seizing flags in front of the battle, Xia Houying could not hold back at most and rushed forward in his chariot to tear him apart.

Kill once, of course, there are generally not many such opportunities.

Now, Liu Bang, who had no one to rely on, finally pushed Xia Houying onto the battlefield.

Faced with the Qin army's aggressive offensive, Xia Houying felt as if a heavy burden had been placed on his shoulders. Twenty thousand elite soldiers of the Han army were the vanguard. This number sounds like a lot, but how much combat power can the Qin army exert if he encounters it?

Xia Houying was really not sure.

May 7th.

West of Han River.

On the Chi Road from Nanjun to Nanyang County, the reinforcements of the Han army advancing by land and water collided head-on with the Qin army's blocking force led by Li Yuan when they advanced to the south of Ye County.

And when the familiar yet unfamiliar "Li" character "李" appeared in black with a gold border on the Qin army's banner, all the Han army generals took a deep breath.

"It's really Li Yuan——!" A flush appeared on Guan Ying's dark face. He had always considered himself to be extremely brave, but during the battle in Guanzhong last year, he was beaten by Li Yuan and fled in embarrassment.

It was also that battle that reduced Guan Ying from the star of hope in the Han army to a second-rate general.

"It's the prince of the Qin Kingdom who has come, and it's over now. Even if we don't die this time, we have to shed our skin." This was the voice of the old soldier of the Han army who was finally ransomed from the construction site of Chang'an City.

"Send an order to the whole army: Just set up camp and wait for the King of Han to catch up before making a decision." Xia Houying coldly stared at the black Qin cavalry formation in front of him and ordered angrily.

Infantry versus cavalry.

The best way is to form a formation and defend yourself, first to stabilize the morale of the soldiers. Then, the main force behind the Qinqi Express will follow up. In this case, the advantage of Qinqi's rapid maneuverability will not be brought into play.

I have to admit that although Xia Houying has always been an executioner and bodyguard and has not had many opportunities to lead troops in battles, his arrangements are still quite satisfactory. Li Yuan, who was looking at the vanguard of the Han army from the opposite side, couldn't help but admire him.

"Xiahou——!"

This surname is rare. Among the celebrities in history, Xia Houying is famous. This is not only because of his role as the founder of the Han Dynasty, but also because among his descendants, there are one or two famous generals of the Three Kingdoms.

Xia Houyuan and Xia Houdun, these two followed a generation of outstanding Cao Mengde and made great achievements in the Three Kingdoms era of the Later Han Dynasty. Compared with their ancestor Xia Houying, they made great achievements and were even worse.

The Han army arranged their formation rigorously, but the Qin army's cavalry could not find any advantageous fighting opportunities. Li Yuan and Su Jiao led four thousand cavalry to follow the Han army from a distance.

Inside the camp, the Han infantry had the camp as cover. It was difficult for the cavalry to break through, but if they took action, the cavalry would have the advantage.

——.

From May 10th to 15th.

The Han army set out from Ye County and marched a total of seventy miles north. Although this marching speed cannot be called a turtle speed, it was still unbearably slow.

However, if they want to speed up, they will be exploited by the Qin army. In these short five days, the Han army has suffered a lot. The Qin cavalry under Li Yuan did not confront the Han army head-on. Compared with

Heavy cavalry fight in close quarters. These side cavalry from Jiuyuan are better at killing opponents with crossbows.

Wave after wave of crossbow bolts came like rain.

At mid-range, the power of Qin's machine crossbows was fully revealed. The Han soldiers wanted to use the same method to retaliate, but their opponents were on horses. By the time they took aim, the opponents they had just aimed at had already disappeared.

Use movement to control stillness.

This made the Han generals miserable.

Occasionally, a few vigorous generals from the Han army rushed out, trying to break through the encirclement set by the Qin cavalry. However, soon, the sparse warriors of the Han army were surrounded by the sharp cavalry of the Qin army swarming up.

The cry of killing suddenly sounded, and then fell silent.

As one team after another of warriors failed to return, the morale of the Han army gradually declined. Xia Houying had no choice but to tighten restrictions on the generals at all levels and not go to war on their own.

Marching like this in the rain of crossbows from Qin cavalry, one can imagine the speed of the Han army.

"General Xiahou, if we keep going like this, when will we get Wancheng?" Guan Ying spat angrily and said helplessly.

The Qin army was in a hurry to besiege the city. Wancheng reported three times a day. With no reinforcements being seen, the Han army in Wancheng might defect at any time. Guan Ying also saw that Qin Qi's purpose was just to block the Han army's reinforcements.

, and had no intention of eating up their main force of the Han army.

Xia Houying was riding on a big black horse, his eyes were full of bloodshot eyes. He felt very unwilling to accept the speed of the Han army in the past five days. Liu Bang was urging him again and again, but what should he do to break the Qin army's attack?

Interception, Xia Houying has too few trump cards that he can use.

It would be great if the Han army also had a cavalry. If this is not possible, a crossbow unit of 3,000 people would be fine. To break the siege of the Qin crossbow cavalry, the Han army must have its own special weapons.

"Guan Ying, do you want to break Qin Gou's siege, do you want to take Li Yuan's life, do you want to become famous and famous all over the world." Xia Houying said in a deep voice.

"Of course I do. If I could take Thief Li's head, I would laugh out loud in my dreams." Guan Ying gritted his teeth.

"Okay, now I order you to select three thousand capable soldiers and hide in the formation. When my flag is cut off by the Qin people, you can then rush out and kill the thief Li." Xia Houying

road.

"What, General Xiahou, you want to lure the enemy with your body, how can you do this? If you fail to lure the enemy, the loss will not be heavy?" Guan Ying said in shock.

"You don't have to worry about how to lure the enemy. You just need to keep an eye on the Qin army. Wherever it goes, you can kill it for me. Remember, if I can't kill Thief Li, I, Xia Houying, will be a ghost."

I won’t let you go.” Xia Houying stared at Guan Ying with no trace of anger in his voice.

In the early summer weather, Guan Ying couldn't help but tremble when he heard these words. He mustered up the courage to look at Xia Houying, but saw that the latter's face was calm, as if he had never said anything.

"The last general, the last general's order." Guan Ying muttered.

"Go down, wear more layers of armor, and sharpen your sword faster. From now on, the King of Han will rely on you." Xia Houying smiled and ordered.

Guan Ying lowered his head, not daring to look at Xia Houying's face. At this moment, even the most brainless person understood what Xia Houying was planning in his heart.

However, if Guan Ying could really kill Li Yuan, could he really be worthy of such great trust?

Guanying has no self-confidence.

——.

On a high hill.

The Qin army's banner moved slowly with the marching direction of the Han army.

Compared with the helpless Han army, the Qin army's side cavalry, who were blocking the attack, had high morale at this time. The two Qin army tiger generals, Su Jiao and Meng Hu, protected Li Yuan in the center and were carefully watching the Han army's movements.

.

"Marquis Wu, something seems to be wrong with the Han army?" Meng Hu looked at it intently for a while and said with some confusion.

"Tell me carefully, what's the difference?" Li Yuan asked. Meng Hu had the highest understanding among the generals of the border army. In Li Yuan's heart, he also very much hoped that Meng Hu could succeed Wang Li in the future and become the new leader of the border army.

The commander-in-chief, and this requires the accumulation of experience and time.

"Wuhou, look, Guan Ying's flag has moved backward. This is abnormal. With Guan Ying's bravery, the Han army has always used him as the vanguard to advance first. How could he be allowed to move backward?" Meng Hu said.

He pointed at the Han army formation not far away and commented.

"Maybe Guan Ying is scared and wants to run away?" Su Jiao laughed and said.

"If Guan Ying does that, even Liu Bang will never let him go without Xia Houying killing him. Meng Hu, you will keep an eye on Guan Ying and don't let him out of sight." Li Yuan ordered in a deep voice.

Although Guan Ying did not perform very prominently in the previous wars, this Han army general who was born as a cloth seller was both rough and fine, and he repeatedly escaped the Qin army's pursuit. This in itself shows that this person is not simple, otherwise

, how come it was Zhou Spy and Zhou Ke who died in the Battle of Guanzhong, not him.

Do not underestimate any opponent, use all the resources you can use, and give your opponents the greatest respect. This is the experience and lesson Li Yuan has summarized in the past four years, and it is also the secret to his success among many historical figures. (To be continued.

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Chapter completed!