My father, King Chu, was besieged at Gaixia

Chapter 99 Stillborn
The Han camp, the commander-in-chief’s tent.

The general's roar was like thunder, bursting out continuously, frightening the guards standing outside the tent with halberds in their hands and in bright armor. They looked stern and dared not breathe, standing as straight as the halberds in their hands, and motionless like nails.

Inside the tent, Han Xin knelt high in the main seat with an expression of rage. He cursed and pounded the desk in front of him with his fists, almost smashing the hard locust wood desk.

Inside the tent, apart from Han Xin's angry rebuke, there was complete silence. Liu Bang, who was kneeling at the first seat on one side, and important generals including Fan Kuai, Cao Shen, Li Shang, Zhou Bo, etc., who were sitting in a circle around him, were all silent.

Under the tent, generals Ding Li, Zhang Yue, Dong Xie, and Wang Jing, who were enduring Han Xin's violent rebuke, were naked to the waist, tied up, and kneeling on the spot. Their faces were pale and they were trembling slightly, like seedlings whipped by a storm.

Han Xin spent many days and efforts to plan this military strategy to destroy the Chu army. With the full support of Liu Bang, all the noisy voices in the Han army camp were forcibly suppressed before the plan could be implemented.

He thought that he would accomplish his goal in one battle, annihilate the entire Chu army, and eliminate any remaining threats. However, of the three armies, the Left Army, which was thought by everyone in the Han camp to be the least likely to fail, suffered the greatest defeat. Sixty thousand soldiers died or surrendered, and less than twenty thousand escaped, making Han Xin's long-planned military strategy completely bankrupt.

Not only did the annihilation of Da Chu become an empty talk, but after all the troops were gathered and the overall calculation was completed, it turned out to be a draw!
If it were not for Captain Chen Ping who saw the opportunity clearly and sent envoys to lobby Ying Bu in time when his 5,000 cavalry were defeated by Han Xin and lost the first move, and if it were not for that he took advantage of Ying Bu's selfishness and successfully persuaded him to return to his fiefdom with the remaining troops, the battle would have been lost.

In this case, how could Han Xin not be furious?
Looking at the three armies on the left, center and right, it was Han Xin who won the battle against Ying Bu most efficiently and beautifully.

Han Xin knew Ying Bu's military tactics very well. In view of Ying Bu's good use of cavalry and his frequent proactive offensives, he would use fierce and domineering offensives to break the enemy's line in one fell swoop and then send in the infantry to clean up the mess. He set up a strategy of pretending to defeat the cavalry, luring the enemy deep into his territory, and then surrounding and defeating them. This dealt a heavy blow to the 5,000 cavalry that Ying Bu relied on most.

The only thing that was a little unexpected to Han Xin in this battle was that Ying Bu's 5,000 cavalrymen were so powerful that the Han cavalrymen who had been luring the enemy to feign defeat were actually defeated and fled in defeat. However, this also turned out to be a blessing in disguise, allowing Ying Bu's 5,000 cavalrymen to pursue without scruples and successfully plunged into the pit...

After a loud curse, Han Xin gave an order that the left army commander Kong Xi be killed in battle, and all the defeated generals who escaped, such as Ding Li, be beheaded outside the camp, and then the order was issued to all the camps.

When Ding Li and others heard this, their faces turned pale and they were in complete despair.

"Wait!" Liu Bang stood up and said to Han Xin earnestly, "General, although these bastards have brought disgrace upon the country and their crimes are unforgivable, we still need them now. You may as well give up your lives for now and make meritorious contributions. If they fail again in the future, they will be executed without mercy!"

Fan Kuai, Cao Shen and other generals also hurriedly stood up, knelt on one knee in the tent, and pleaded for mercy.

Han Xin had a gloomy face and remained silent.

The generals felt a chill in their hearts. At this moment, they no longer had any doubt that Han Xin really wanted to kill them!
The generals pleaded for mercy even more earnestly.

After a while, Han Xin nodded hesitantly, but in the end, he was still furious and ordered him to be pushed out and severely punished with 40 military sticks. As for Zhang Yue, he was hit by an arrow from Xiang Chang, and he would probably be beaten to death with 40 military sticks. Liu Bang pleaded for him again and punished him after his injury healed.

Hearing the sounds of whipping flesh and the screams of Ding Li and other generals outside the tent, the generals were secretly shocked. Especially Fan Kuai, Li Shang and others who were still carrying the blame, dared not breathe.

Liu Bang put aside his usual laughter, returned to his seat, knelt down, and said with a stern expression:
"Xiang Chang's right army is extremely powerful. They fought head-on with chariots and horses, and the 25,000 infantrymen actually defeated the 50,000 troops led by Kong Xi. The defeat in this battle with the Great Chu is what worries me the most. If the reason cannot be found, it will be difficult for our Great Han to win again in the future. In the end, I, along with all of you, will inevitably become prisoners of the Great Chu."

The generals either lowered their heads in deep thought, or frowned, or looked worried, or had a confused look on their faces. Their expressions were different, but no one said a word.

Chen Ping glanced at the generals, stepped forward, clasped his hands and said calmly: "King of Han, in my opinion, this is due to Xiang Chang's implementation of the 'Great Qin Military Merit System' in the army."

As soon as Chen Ping finished speaking, Cao Shen waved his hand and said in an unquestionable tone without waiting for Liu Bang to speak: "Captain Chen is exaggerating. If the 'Qin Military Merit System' is really so powerful, how could the Qin be so defeated by us? The boy's fighting power may be stronger, but in my opinion, the biggest reason is probably that Kong Xi is too weak. If the King of Han doesn't believe me, I will fight against that kid in the next battle and see how I can defeat him in one fell swoop."

Cao Shen commanded the central army. Although his 40,000 cavalry were completely wiped out and more than 10,000 infantry were lost, he managed to hold out against the fierce charge of Xiang Yu's 40,000 troops. The title of "the strongest rival to the Overlord" made him unprecedentedly confident.

Upon hearing Cao Shen's words, generals such as Zhou Bo, Fan Kuai and Li Shang immediately followed suit. They all attributed the defeat of the left army to the fact that Kong Xi was too weak.

Chen Ping took a step back, stood with his hands folded and remained silent.

The Chu and Han armies were both born out of the anti-Qin rebellion, and to put it bluntly, they were all makeshift teams. The reason why the soldiers fought desperately even though they were only given food and no pay was that most of them were forced by the harsh Qin law and had no choice but to survive.

Now the Qin Dynasty has been destroyed for several years, and Han and Chu have been fighting for the world year after year. The generals are fine, as they either get promoted or make a fortune in every battle. However, for the lower-level officers and soldiers, fighting with their heads on the line all day long does not bring any benefit, so they naturally lose interest in war and even begin to become tired of it.

Therefore, Cao Shen and other generals were completely lying with their eyes open. They naturally knew how powerful the "Qin military merit reward and title system" was in boosting the morale of the army and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. The reason why they unanimously opposed it was that it was good for the army and the soldiers, but not necessarily for them, the generals.

To put it bluntly, the Han Dynasty faced the same problems as the Chu Dynasty.

As a military merit group and newly-promoted aristocracy of the Han Dynasty, the current goal of generals such as Cao Shen is not only to defeat the Chu State, but also to suppress the newly emerging forces in the army and maintain their own power and status, which is equally important.

Once the "Qin military merit system" was implemented, the status and power of these generals would inevitably be impacted. As they were all born in the lower class, they knew very well what those poor people at the bottom would do to climb up and stand at the top of this world. They were really brave enough to fight for it, just like them when they started the rebellion.

The most crucial thing is that after being disrupted by the newly appointed princes by Xiang Yu, the King of Han no longer trusts or is even afraid of his old brothers. If new forces emerge in the army, he will definitely be happy to see them, and even vigorously support them to replace them.

Sure enough, facing the harsh opposition from Cao Shen and others that threatened to kill the proposal, Liu Bang narrowed his eyes slowly but did not say much.

"Dang!" With a crisp sound, Han Xin threw two semicircular iron rings on the desk.

"The reason why the Chu cavalry suddenly became more powerful is because of this thing. According to the Yingbu cavalrymen I captured, this is a stirrup developed by Xiang Chang."

Hearing Han Xin's words, all the generals were surprised: "This guy again?"

Chen Ping stepped out again and said, "If it weren't for this kid, when the military advisor used the 'Chu Songs on All Sides' strategy, the Chu army would have completely collapsed. After that, this kid 'set an ambush and killed Guan Ying' and 'persuaded three kings in one day', turning the inevitable death at Gaixia into a reality. Then he implemented the 'Qin Military Merit Awarding System' to boost morale, manufactured this item to equip the cavalry to improve their combat effectiveness, and distilled the 'poison-clearing medicine' to treat the wounded, giving the Chu camp a whole new look, and finally making the general's plan to destroy the Chu army fail and go down the drain."

"This boy is inferior to Xiang Yu in all aspects except leading troops in battle. He is more dangerous than Fan Zeng before. The most troublesome thing is that he is Xiang Yu's only adult son and is highly valued by Xiang Yu. Besides, his temperament is not as strong as Fan Zeng's, so it is difficult for him to be slandered. It is not easy to alienate him from his father and son. I ask all generals to pay attention to this boy." After speaking, Chen Ping slowly stepped back and remained silent again.

"Even though this kid is quite deficient in military strategy, he has made up for it with his implementation of the 'Qin Military Merit System' and the soldiers' willingness to fight and risk their lives." Liu Bang snorted coldly and interrupted.

The generals were all horrified when they thought about how Kong Xi's 60,000 troops fought against the kid's 30,000 troops, but were defeated in return.

Li Shang stepped forward to pick it up, examined it for a while, threw it back on the table and said in a muffled voice: "This thing is nothing special. You can tell the trick at a glance. How come none of our tens of thousands of cavalry soldiers figured it out, allowing that kid to take the lead?"

For the experienced cavalry commanders of the Han Dynasty, stirrups were indeed ridiculously simple, and they understood them immediately. What made them very depressed was that no one could think of such a simple thing that was obvious at a glance, otherwise how could they lose this crucial battle? However, it is comforting that from now on, their cavalry can be fully equipped, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly improved.

It has to be said that once this transparent stirrup was unveiled, it was exactly as Xiang Chang had expected. From then on, the era of riding a horse without a stirrup and relying on clamping it tightly was over.

"I have paid enough attention to the combat effectiveness of the central army led by Xiang Yu, but I did not expect to equip it with this weapon. The defeat of Jin Xu and his 40,000 cavalry is my fault. I hope the King of Han will punish me! I hereby declare that according to the military order signed before the war, no matter how heavy the punishment is, I am willing to accept it."

Han Xin looked ashamed. He stood up, bowed to Liu Bang, then walked out of the tent quickly.

The generals looked at Han Xin, opened their mouths to speak, but didn't know what to say, and finally stopped talking dejectedly.

For the Han camp, there is no doubt that the annihilation of the 40,000 cavalry commanded by Jin Xu was a real blow. The preciousness of cavalry, or more precisely, the preciousness of war horses, is known to be much more valuable than the lives of soldiers. This time, Jin Xu's 40,000 cavalry was completely defeated. The Han army had less than 20,000 cavalry left. In the next battle with the Chu, the mobility would inevitably be much inferior, and it might even fall to the point of passively being beaten. After all, Xiang Yu's use of cavalry was unparalleled in the world.

But to punish Han Xin for this was a bit too much.

If the military strategy he had planned was truly successful, and the left and right armies could merge smoothly, encircling the central army of the Great Chu and destroying it in one fell swoop, then even paying the price of 40,000 cavalry would not be unacceptable.

But now, not only did the left army fail to achieve the preset strategic goals, but it suffered a great defeat. Xiang Yu's 20,000 cavalry were equipped with stirrups, which led to the complete annihilation of 40,000 cavalry. This was too outrageous!

Therefore, no matter how you calculate it, the Han army suffered heavy losses this time.

Even though the Han army had accumulated a lot of wealth over the years, they still suffered heavy losses this time.

This can be seen from the fact that when Han Xin asked for forgiveness, the usually magnanimous King of Han could not bring himself to say the words "forgive Han Xin for being innocent" for a while.

All the generals raised their heads and focused their eyes on Liu Bang.

Liu Bang's face seemed to have aged several years at this moment, with deeper wrinkles, darker and uglier appearance, especially his high nose which seemed to be drooping. He waved his hand weakly, "I will take care of this matter myself."

Cao Shen hesitated for a moment, then, under the constant glances of the other generals, he knelt straight, saluted Liu Bang, and said in a deep voice:
"King of Han, we generals have discussed that the reason why we lost the battle with the Chu army was not just because the Chu army implemented the "Qin military merit system" and had the stirrup as a weapon. More importantly, there are other reasons."

Liu Bang looked at him suspiciously and said calmly, "Oh, tell me about it!"

"We believe that the most important reason is that the troops that we, the generals, originally came from were swapped out. This way, the generals don't know the soldiers, and the soldiers don't know the generals. This creates more resistance when commanding on the battlefield, and we can't use our arms and fingers as we wish."

After hearing Cao Shen's first shot, the other generals immediately followed suit and said:

"Yes, like me, I can't even remember the names of these new generals under my command. I don't know whether they are good at attacking or defending, riding or shooting. How can I properly arrange their marching and formation?"

"That's right. I even had a joke here. I assigned a guy to guard the front line, and he came to me and complained that he had been feeding pigs in the baggage army and had never fought on the front line. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing that, so I had no choice but to replace him."

"Hey, I have something even more ridiculous. The general originally wanted me to lead a cavalry to attack the Chu army from the rear when they attacked the cavalry formation. I went back and asked, guess what? All my subordinates are infantry, not a single cavalry. What the hell is this!"

……

Listening to the generals talking in a chaotic manner, they became more and more agitated, as if if they did not replace their original generals and troops, they would be defeated even more miserably in the next battle.

Chen Ping sneered again in his heart. This was obviously the sequelae of Zhang Liang's previous strategy of swapping the armies under the command of the generals.

It is certain that the newly transferred troops are not as reliable and convenient as the old ones, but they will not have so many problems and their combat effectiveness will not be reduced as much as these generals said. These guys are obviously taking advantage of the situation and want to get their original generals and soldiers back.

Chen Ping, who knew Liu Bang's thoughts very well, had only one thing to say to the generals: "You think too much!"

Sure enough, Liu Bang yawned loudly and said with a wooden face: "Let's end our meeting here for today. Let's all go back and have a rest." He simply ignored the generals' suggestions.

The generals looked at each other, but in the end they did not dare to question. They stood up, saluted and left.

"Captain Chen, please stay for a moment."

Chen Ping stood up and was about to follow out of the tent, when Liu Bang suddenly spoke.

Dear readers, I can’t stand it anymore. My ability is limited… From now on, I will update 4,000 words every day…

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(End of this chapter)