My father, King Chu, was besieged at Gaixia

Chapter 48 The final word

Not far from the front line where Xiang Yu's 20,000 cavalry were fighting, two large green flags were erected. The wide flags fluttered in the wind, with the two big characters "Han" and "Qi" written on them respectively, exuding an inexplicable majesty!

Under the flag, Han Xin sat upright on his horse, with the general's sword bestowed by Liu Bang personally hanging on his waist, gazing at the fierce battle in the distance with full of confidence.

Under his control and command, Jin Xu's 20,000 cavalry blocked Zhou Yin's rebel army, and Zhou Bo and Chai Wu led a Han army to block Ying Bu's army. Therefore, although the two armies rebelled suddenly, it was a sudden change, but they have not yet been able to join forces with Xiang Yu's army, and have not caused any situation that is difficult to deal with.

The Han army currently claims to have 600,000 troops, but in reality, there are not so many, only about 500,000. Among them, Zhou Yin and Ying Bu's army totaled 90,000, Peng Yue's Liang army 80,000, Han Xin's Qi army 90,000, and Liu Bang's Han army 260,000.

Han Xin believed that the more soldiers the better. No matter how many soldiers there were, he could control them freely and command them with confidence. At present, the army of more than 500,000 was all in his head. Under his orderly arrangement, everything was taken care of without omission. Almost every general was not wasted, and every army was put to good use.

According to his military order, Kong Xi led 70,000 left-wing troops to stay put and guard against Peng Yue's army in the northeast. When Zhou Yin and Ying Bu's troops suddenly rebelled, the left-wing troops dared not move rashly.

Liu Bang led 60,000 troops to the rear, far away from the battlefield, while Cao Shen led 70,000 troops to the center, acting as a reserve force and monitoring the remaining troops in Gaixia.

Chen He commanded the right army, and together with the cavalry of Fu Kuan and other generals, they besieged Xiang Yu. Not long ago, they were finally unable to withstand the charge of Xiang Yu's 20,000 elite cavalry and were defeated one after another.

Han Xin had also made a budget in advance and had set up a new encirclement with the army under his command, launching a new round of siege against Xiang Yu's cavalry.

It has to be said that no matter people or goods, they are afraid of comparison. Compared with Han Xin, Liu Bang's previous free and undisciplined army of hundreds of thousands was almost the same as the free-range state, which was simply unbearable to watch. It is no wonder that Liu Bang, who commanded an army of 560,000, was defeated by Xiang Yu, who had traveled a long distance and had 30,000 exhausted cavalry.

Faced with Xiang Yu's cavalry who broke through the siege and showed off their power, Han Xin changed his strategy from defending to actively attacking, commanding Dong Xu, Zhang Yue, Ding Li, Wang Xi and other generals to take turns to fight and attack one after another!
Han Xin had never fought such a successful battle. Although he and Xiang Yu were both rare military geniuses and their command of the army was unparalleled, in a contest of equal forces, Xiang Yu was clearly superior and he was no match for him.

But who can blame him for having so many troops at his disposal now?
The army reflects the courage of the general. With sufficient troops in hand, Han Xin was naturally full of confidence and looked down upon the world. Even when facing the powerful King of Western Chu, he was nonchalant and felt no pressure at all!
This man, who was praised as the God of War by later generations, had the confidence!

Although the 20,000 cavalry led by Xiang Yu were as powerful as dragons, as ferocious as tigers, and had extremely violent fighting power, they were just a piece of stubborn iron in Han Xin's eyes. He was like a skilled blacksmith, wielding the big iron hammer of the Han army, smashing it down continuously with one hammer after another, making it smaller and smaller.

He was extremely patient, quietly waiting for the final moment when he would smash the Chu cavalry into pieces and then grind them into powder.

By now he had seen the decline of the Chu army. On the surface they still looked vigorous, but in fact they were close to the end of their strength. The armies of Zhou Yin and Ying Bu, who had raised the banner of rebellion, were firmly blocked on the periphery, and the two armies could not join forces. Therefore, Xiang Yu was now truly at the end of his rope, and his destruction was imminent, or even in the next moment.

According to his estimation, Xiang Yu should have a fresh force that he had not yet deployed, and he naturally had a corresponding back-up plan. As long as Xiang Yu's final struggle could be survived, this big fish would be caught and the overall situation would be settled. Up to now, all the Han generals who participated in the siege of Xiang Yu were chilled and inexplicably timid. They all agreed that only Han Xin was in command at the moment, and he could trap the 20,000 elite Chu cavalry led by Xiang Yu. If it were any other person, including the Han King Liu Bang, Xiang Yu would have broken through the siege and joined the armies of Zhou Yin and Ying Bu.

Thinking of the King of Western Chu, who was famous throughout the world and dug the grave of the arrogant Qin Empire, and now was at the end of his rope, and seeing that his legendary life would end in his hands, even though Han Xin had fought for many years and his heart was as heavy as a mountain, he could not help but feel a little proud.

What surprised him somewhat was that he sent two powerful generals, Zhou Bo and Chai Wu, to snipe Ying Bu's army, and ordered Cao Shen, who was in charge of the central army, to be prepared and respond at any time. However, according to the feedback from the battlefield, the offensive of Ying Bu's army was surprisingly weak, and the two sides were evenly matched.

This posture, which is similar in combat power to that of Zhou Bo and Chai Wu's army, is very inconsistent with the previous style of the Jiujiang army led by Ying Bu, which is strong and domineering, and whose assaults and charges are as indestructible as rolling rocks from mountains.

Han Xin was greatly surprised and keenly sensed that there was something fishy going on. He carefully asked the cavalry who delivered the message. When he heard that Ying Bu had been sitting in the army to boost morale instead of charging in person, his eyes narrowed and a chill rose in his heart.

After another round of anxious questioning, he learned that there was no shortage of infantry among Ying Bu's 40,000 Jiujiang troops, but there seemed to be a gap in the cavalry under Ying Bu's personal command.

After all, Ying Bu had surrendered to Liu Bang for a long time, and the Han army was very familiar with the number of infantry and cavalry under his command.

Han Xin closed his eyes slightly, his brain working rapidly. After a while of calculation, he found that his battle formation was flawless. No matter which direction Ying Bu attacked from, he could easily deploy and trap him, even though he was the world-famous King of Huainan, known for his fierce and domineering use of cavalry!
He also had a very good understanding of Ying Bu's use of troops. Ying Bu inherited the military tactics from Xiang Yu, especially his use of cavalry. He was very good at it and could always accurately grasp the weakest part of the enemy on the chaotic and turbulent battlefield, and then use cavalry to launch a surprise attack to settle the deal.

So where is the weakest part of the Han army at this moment, which can play the greatest role in the battle situation?

Almost in an instant, Han Xin opened his eyes, his face changed suddenly, and two words quickly emerged in his mind: rear army!
Han Xin knew that most of his attention was distracted by Xiang Yu, and he was not careful for a moment and fell into Ying Bu's trap of repairing the plank road in the name of repairing the plank road while secretly attacking Chencang. He quickly called over the cavalry to deliver the message and hurriedly informed Liu Bang to be careful!
He calculated the time and knew that it might be too late to deliver the message now. However, he thought that Liu Bang's rear army had as many as 60,000 soldiers, and Ying Bu would lead a surprise attack with not too many cavalry, at most a few thousand. So even if he could inflict a certain blow to Liu Bang's rear army, it would be extremely difficult to defeat it in one fell swoop, unless he could accurately detect the location of Liu Bang's central army and use the tactic of digging out their hearts!

Thinking of this, Han Xin felt relieved a little, but he was still a little uneasy. After all, the rear army was under the command of Liu Bang, not under his control.

Han Xin took a deep breath and straightened his body. He was about to mobilize the reserve troops and launch an all-out attack on Xiang Yu's cavalry regardless of casualties. He must defeat them in the shortest time possible and put an end to this war once and for all!

The war had now turned into a situation that both Xiang Yu and Han Xin hated the most - there was no room for the use of any strategy or tactics, just a pure head-on confrontation and a fight of attrition.

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(End of this chapter)