In the third year of the Xinli period of Qin Dynasty, June and July.

While Li Yuan besieged Ba County and Shu County, Han King Liu Bang also launched a battle to attack Gongao, the king of Linjiang, Nanjun. This time, the Han army went south completely as a mourning soldier. In order to prepare for this southern expedition, Liu Bang gave up reinforcements of Cao Shen, resulting in the defeat of the Battle of Xicheng, which was a huge price.

The aftermath of the Battle of Xicheng continued to shake. Although due to Cao Shen's desperate resistance, King Liu Bang of Han had the opportunity to escape from the fallen Hanzhong County, after being lucky enough to escape from Li Yuan's tiger palm, Liu Bang could no longer have the courage and thought of fighting the Qin army.

Failed again and again.

The miserable results made Liu Bang feel disheartened and began to doubt his decisions.

Unlike the Han army that had the advantage in the past, but often failed. This time, the Qin army attacked Hanzhong and was completely pressed over with the situation of Mount Tai, which made Liu Bang suddenly feel the difference in strength with the Qin army.

The Qin army became stronger and stronger as the war broke out.

The Han army was weak due to the successive defeats, and even defeated Han Wangxin, he had to win by strategy. Against this backdrop, Liu Bang decided to retreat.

There were more than ten princes of all sizes in Guandong. Everyone had a responsibility to say that they would fight against Qin. Now all the princes are fighting for territory and expanding their strength. Liu Bang alone held up the banner to fight against Qin alone. Heroes are enough heroes, but the burden is too heavy.

After understanding this, Liu Bang changed the target of the attack from the Qin army in the west to his former alliance force. After resolving King Xin of Han, Liu Bang decided to capture the old capital of the old Chu State, Yingcheng, to the south.

South County North, Deng County.

In June, the Han army mobilized its troops several times in the name of practicing the army. The Linjiang Army was a little vigilant at the beginning, but then gradually became accustomed to it.

Under this situation, Liu Bang gathered nearly 20,000 elite soldiers in Deng County, with Zhongjuan and Zhou Bo as the chief general of the Southern Expedition, and his cousin Liu Jia as the vanguard. Liu Bang himself was in charge of the central army with Zhang Liang, Lu Wan, Zhang Er and other advisers. The prime minister Xiao He stayed in Wancheng to be responsible for the transfer of food and fodder.

July 23rd.

Liu Jia took the lead in taking over 2,000 Han soldiers to occupy Deng County while the night was dark and opened the gateway to Nanjun. Afterwards, Zhou Bo gave the order, the main force of the Han army advanced south along the Han River, and continued to Jingling and Anlu and other county towns. Most of the places in Nanjun were forcibly assigned to Liu Bang.

Faced with the sudden attack of the Han army, King Gongao of Linjiang was caught off guard. The military ability of the Zhu Kingdom appointed by King Xiong Xin of Chu was mediocre. The reason why he was able to become a prince was due to his previous friendship.

July 29th.

The Han army won consecutive battles and advanced to the periphery of Yingcheng, the old nest of Gongao. The Han army generals who were defeated in a row during the battle with the Qin army performed extremely eye-catching in the civil war between the princes of Guandong. The princes such as Gongao, who had looked down on Liu Bang for a while, became stunned and at a loss.

The war is burning south.

King Linjiang Gong Ao was panicked. The elder of the Zhu State of Chu State and Liu Bang were also old acquaintances. Recently, Nanjun and Nanyang County were approaching each other, and the envoys between the two princes and kings also had close contacts. Gong Ao relaxed his vigilance for a moment.

Yingcheng.

Gongao hurriedly summoned his subordinates to discuss matters. The Yingcheng area belonged to the old capital of Chu. This place is much remoter than the Central Plains in the north. Fortunately, in recent years, due to the continuous wars in the north, there were also many large tribes among the refugees who moved south, which made Gongao at least recruit several talents.

Wen Sui He, Wu Gongwei.

Gongao's team is very simple. Suihe was also a famous figure in the history of the late Qin Dynasty. As for Gongwei, he was Gongao's son.

It is more at ease to be in the hands of our own people. After seeing King Xiong Xin of Chu with his own eyes, Gong Ao's suspicion became worse and worse.

"You guys, Liu Ji was betrayed and attacked our Nanjun. Now, the enemy has come to the city. What should we do?" Gong Ao asked, looking at Sui's few important subordinates.

"King, Liu Ji is betrayal, why don't we go to sue him?" Gong Ao was at a loss. Prime Minister Sui He glanced at his companions who were frightened on both sides, calmly stepped forward and advised him.

"With the emperor, how could the overlord listen to us? You should know about King Huai's affairs-?" Gong Ao shook his head silly. In Chu, there is a faction that supports King Huai of Chu, Xiong Xin, and Xiang Yu, and unfortunately, after Xiong Xin broke up with Xiang Yu, the relationship between Gong Ao, the Xiong Xiong Sect, was tense. What will happen if he complained to Xiang Yu at this time?

Sui He Yi laughed it off and said loudly: "Master, it is his business whether the overlord listens or not, and whether we sue it or not. This time, if we can use the opportunity of Liu Bang's invasion of the south to express our feelings to the overlord, it will be a good thing to kill two birds with one stone."

Suihe's meaning: after Xiang Yu killed Xiong Xin, what he urgently needed was righteousness and support. If Gongao could express his support, it would be no less than a timely help for Xiang Yu.

After hearing Suihe's analysis, Gong Ao's dim eyes lit up and he said anxiously: "Sui has come up with a good idea. In this way, I will prepare a generous gift and send an envoy to Pengcheng. No, for the sake of caution, please go with the blind date."

"Subordinate to obey the order." Sui He smiled slightly and agreed. After bowing respectfully, Sui He left long. This made all his colleagues look surprised and admired.

"King, my subordinates are willing to accompany the prime minister to Pengcheng together." An erect official looked anxious and stepped forward to ask for orders.

"I am willing to go." At this time, all the officials who finally recalled all rushed forward and said loudly.

"Well, I am now working on people. You are staying in Yingcheng and follow me to fight the invading enemy." Gong Ao's face darkened and he shouted.

Although Gongao was able to be the pillar of Chu, his military capabilities were not very good, and he could not guess the thoughts of these officials in terms of insight into people's hearts.

No matter what Sui He is thinking, at least in terms of his or her ability, there is no need to doubt it. When he went to Pengcheng to persuade Xiang Yu, he was the official in Nanjun.

As for the others, they are completely just a mess, just like not going.

After hearing what Gong Ao said, all the officials were dejected. At such a critical moment, Suihe, as the prime minister, was able to leave first. What is this skill? Compared to Suihe's eloquence, these guys with poor eloquence and mediocre abilities could only sigh.

After the officials left, Gong Ao Du left his son Gongwei and asked, "My son, let me tell you the truth. Can I keep Yingcheng for a month?"

If everything goes well, it will take at least one month to wait until Xiang Yu's mediation envoy arrives. Gongao is old and his army is left to his son Gongwei. He is not very clear about the strength and deployment of the Linjiang Army.

"Father, I have a thousand guards in Jingling, and two thousand guards in Anlu, but they were all down by the enemy for three days. The city walls of Yingcheng are broken and they are really unable to hold on." Gongwei replied helplessly.

The Linjiang area is not crowded, and there have been many frictions with King Wu Rui of Changsha. Gongwei then reassuredly transferred his troops to the south of the Yangtze River. However, he did not expect that the Han army would turn against each other.

"You really can't defend Yingcheng?" Gong Ao asked unwillingly. Over the past year, Gong Ao has reclaimed deserts and opened rivers in the Yingcheng area, and finally restored some of the grand occasions of Chu in the past, but he did not expect that he would eventually make wedding dresses for others.

"Father, it's not time to go. The Han army has already advanced east along the Han River. We should go to Shaxian (Xiakou) first to avoid it." Gongwei said sadly.

When Qin attacked Chu, Yingdu was burned down. Although it has been restored in the past two years, the city walls were damaged many times and there was almost no danger to defend. No matter how capable the Gongwei had, he could not defend a city without defense.

"Let's go, these days, my son has been secretly preparing boats. When there is no one at night, he will transport all the wealth in the mansion to the boat to hide. If he really cannot defend, he can retreat at any time." Gong Ao nodded and said.

The Han army was in a hurry, and the people of Linjiang were in panic. The Gong family and son had no confidence in defending Yingcheng. After leaving the meeting hall, the officials were busy trying to find ways to escape.

Under such a situation, Zhou Bo and Liu Jia almost advanced with a broken force. The defenders of Yingcheng lasted for only half a day before they collapsed.

Under the protection of Gongwei, Gongao retreated from the waterway to Xiakou. Along the way, he encountered the Han army led by Liu Jia first boarded the boat army. The two armies fought in the Han River.

In the end, the Linjiang boat carrying a lot of wealth was killed and defeated. Gongao sank on the ship and drowned in the river. Only Gongwei fought a bloody road in the chaos and fled towards the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

All the deaths of Ao.

Linjiang Kingdom, which had just one year of its founding, was immediately destroyed. This was another princely king's fiefdom after King Shenyang of Henan. By the time Suihe persuaded Xiang Yu, everything was too late.

At the end of August, the Han army completely pacified Nanjun. After losing Hanzhongjun, Liu Bang finally regained the status of the Great Prince after relying on a civil war.

Yingdu.

The new capital of King Liu Bang of Han.

A fast horse ran into the city from the northern border and brought news that Li Yuan, the Marquis of Shenwu of Qin, was seriously ill and was about to die. This made Liu Bang's nerves tense up again.

"Another conspiracy?" After hearing this news, Liu Bang, Zhang Liang and other Han countries had this intuition. After losing the intelligence network in Xianyang City, the reconstruction was very difficult. Now Zhang Liang can only collect information from Guanzhong by word of mouth from merchants, so in terms of credibility and timeliness, it has been reduced a lot.

"King of Han, this time, let other princes go to the bloody face. We must not be fooled by Li Zhe again." Guan Ying looked frightened.

Cao Shen's death made the Han generals lose the courage to fight the Qin army one by one. Now, even a powerful general like Guan Ying cannot raise the courage to fight the Qin army.

PS: Well, Old Liu has learned a lot. I don’t know who it is this time, but he will fall into the trap.
Chapter completed!