Chapter 20: Long Qi's death

The land of Jianghuai River and the coast of Huai River.

The sky was gloomy, and the bitter cold wind kept roaring between the sky, rolling up the withered grass and fallen leaves; in the sky, dark clouds were constantly gathering, accumulating more and more, and thicker it gradually formed a huge black dome, but it was so low that it seemed that it might fall off from its head at any time, which was very depressing.

While the clouds were covered with cold wind, a huge army was trekking hard: flags were flying, crowded, and the team was boundless and endless. There was no end at a glance. A majestic handsome flag was flying at the front of the team, and the word "Dragon" on it was swept wildly with the wind, and it was so powerful and murderous.

This was the 80,000 Linhuai army led by Long Qi. After receiving an emergency request for help from Guangling, he rushed to reinforce.

In the ground, another cold wind was blowing, and the weeds in the wind were chaotic, and the stone grains were curled up toward the Chu army with shamelessness. When they hit the armor, they made a slight jingle sound.

"Damn it, why are you always fighting against me? The weather was still good two days ago, but today it suddenly became this kind of virtue. Don't rain or snow. If you lose Guangling, the general must peel off my skin!" Long Qi looked at the bad weather and was a little worried!

"Yonghe! Yonghe! Damn it, get over here!" Long Qi suddenly shouted.

"General Long, the last general is here!" With Long Qi's call, a strong general in his thirties ran out of the team behind him, urging his horse, lowered his head, and protected his helmet with his right hand, and rushed over.

"General Long, what are the instructions?" Deputy General Yonghe bowed in the cold wind.

"Well, where is our army now? How far is it from Guangling?" Long Qi was a little anxious.

"General, our army is now about five miles away from Liushui Town. The county closest to the west is about three hundred miles away from Tutang and about four hundred miles away from Guangling, and there is also a Huai River!" Yonghe said quickly, and from time to time he spit out some mud and grass chips from his mouth!

"Damn it, it's still so far! In this way, you'll have to travel a hundred miles a day, and you have to cross the river for one day and you'll have to arrive in Guangling in five days?" Long Qi asked anxiously. "Yes, General! This is the best situation. If the weather is not good, it's heavy snow or heavy rain, you may not be able to get there for five days!" Yong He poured cold water on Long Qi.

Long Qi looked up and looked at the sky. The weather was really not like a good temper. I am afraid that heavy rain or heavy snow would be inevitable. He couldn't help but feel a little depressed: "I hope Zhao Gong can support it, otherwise if Guangling is lost, it will be difficult for us to fight this battle!" "General, don't worry, Guangling is strong, and Zhao Gong is very cautious, so there should be no serious trouble!" Yong He comforted.

At this moment, a few words of fast horses running against each other were suddenly on the side of the road. Because of the strong wind, everyone was pressing their waists almost lying on the horse. "General Long, a messenger has arrived in Guangling!" A chaplain who rushed to the front stood up and reported the report.

"Where is the messenger?" Long Qi was eager to learn about Guangling's recent situation. "The villain is!" A young man dressed in a skillful manner behind him bowed.

"How is it? What's the situation in Guangling? Can Zhao Gong still support it?" Long Qi said anxiously.

"General Long, Han Xin is very treacherous. He just raided our army day and night, but he didn't really fight with me. Now, my Guangling sergeant is very tired, and I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on for long. Summoning General Long to ask for the reinforcements!" The messenger also looked anxious.

"Okay, follow the army and I will immediately order to speed up the marching speed!" When Long Qi was about to give the order, suddenly, a lightning flashed in the sky, slashing a shocking thunder! "Boom!" The rumbling loud noise made the Chu army's ears a little numb, and they also stuffed Long Qi's words into their stomachs.

Immediately afterwards, countless hail, rain and snow were poured out in the sky without any shame. In an instant, the Chu army in armor made the sound of jingling. For a moment, a chaotic symphony was played between heaven and earth.

Long Qi's mouth twitched, and a sentence was squeezed out from his teeth: "Get a camp!" "Here!" A messenger rushed down to pass the order.

The Chu army was so happy that they were hit by hail that they hugged their heads and complained that they were so happy that they immediately stopped their troops and quickly built a huge camp at an unprecedented miracle speed, and then rushed in to avoid the damn weather.

...

Gradually, the sky gradually became darker and the hail stopped slowly, but the annoying rain and snow seemed to have no intention of stopping, and it was still flowing between the sky and the earth.

Long Qi stood at the door of the handsome tent with a pale face: The rain now is not as good as summer. You can travel in the rain without getting sick, but if you travel in the rain in such a cold weather, most of the soldiers will fall ill tomorrow, so Long Qi is just helpless now and stare at God.

Seeing that the rain had not stopped at night, there was no chance to take advantage of the night to travel, Long Qi had to eat some dry food in depressedly and go to bed to rest. That night, Long Qi was concerned about the war in Guangling, and he was really tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He fell asleep in a daze until dawn.

The next day, Long Qi, who was used to getting up early, suddenly woke up, put on a fur robe and came outside the tent. At this time, the sky was clear, blue and blue, and it was particularly bright. Long Qi breathed a sigh of relief: "The rain finally stopped, and I had to hang myself if it doesn't stop!" He shouted: "Come, I'll order the three armies to advance some dry food, and quickly set off the camp on the road. If you don't walk 150 miles today, you are not allowed to rest!" "Here!" The soldiers took the order and went down to pass the order.

Soon, the vast Chu camp quickly disappeared on the horizon and turned into a huge army, with wheels rolling and horse hooves galloping towards the south.

It is said that "there is more than one's heart but not enough strength." Although Long Qi thought it well and set the journey today to 150 miles, the sky was clear and the road was rotten. The hard-working Chu army walked one morning, and only less than thirty miles were gone. Long was so angry that he was furious that he was furious and had no choice.

In the afternoon, the Chu army, which had almost no rest, was driven to the south by Long Qi with a whip and a long sword. When it was almost evening, it finally walked out of the influence of yesterday's rainfall and set foot on the Kangzhuang Avenue.

At night, Long Qie wanted to continue his journey, but when he saw that the Chu soldiers had been rushing wildly for a day, they were already tired and staggering, so he had to set up camp under Yonghe's advice and prepare to build a bridge and cross the river at noon tomorrow.

In the evening, the Qin army was in the camp east of the Huai River, and Han Xin led the tent.

Han Xin and the generals surrounded the sand table and carefully looked at the terrain near the Huai River. After looking at it for a while, Han Xin asked the scammer: "How far is Longqi Chu army from the Huai River now? Where is it?"

The scattered replied, "It is estimated that there are about 40 to 50 miles away from the Huai River. It is located in a place called Shiwagang. You can reach the bank of the Huai River around noon tomorrow!" "That's it!" Han Xin thought about it and said, "Dear generals, what do you think?"

The generals looked at each other, and Wu Rui smiled and said, "The last general is confident. Since there is a decision, why bother to ask us! The general is much better than us, so don't let us make a fool of ourselves!" "Yes, yes!" Since the battle in Guangling, Han Xin's command ability has been recognized by the generals, and the generals have been convinced by Han Xin.

"Well! Then I'll talk about my humble opinion!" Han Xin smiled with a firm face, exuding a strong confidence. The majestic style made the generals have an illusion: it seems that this young man was born as a genius commander born for war!

"General Cao, I heard that you fought with Long Qi, what's the outcome?" Han Xin asked Cao Shen with a smile. Cao Shen was stunned and said, "Yes, he fought in the battle of Guangling. If Xiang Yu and Chu Xiang were not joined, Cao would never be afraid of him!"

"Okay, tomorrow I will let you be the vanguard and lead 15,000 soldiers to the east bank of the Huai River to form an array. When the Longqi army arrives, you will cross the river and fight with the Longqi! I will personally lead 40,000 main force to respond!" Han Xin said with a smile.

"What!?" Cao Shen and the generals couldn't help but be shocked, thinking that they had heard it wrong. Cao Shen smiled bitterly and said, "General, I only used 15,000 troops to fight Long and 80,000 troops, and it is too difficult to cross the river to attack. As long as Long understands some military strategy and attacks halfway, my vanguard army must be defeated and returned. Please think twice. This plan is indeed impossible, I must be afraid of death!"

"Yes, General, even if you want General Cao to fight the front line, can't he be allowed to wait for the Chu army to come before crossing the river? Isn't this a chance to cross the Huai River halfway?? Why not our army will cross the Huai River tonight, set up a formation on the west bank of the Huai River, and then fight against the Chu army!" Wu Rui also did not agree with Han Xin's argument!

Seeing that the generals were opposed, Han Xin was not angry and said with a smile: "What you two generals said is that if you wait for the Chu army to come and cross the river, with such a small amount of troops, you will definitely be defeated by Long Qi half-cross! But this is what Han wants!"

The generals were startled when they heard this. When they looked at Han Xin, they couldn't help but feel a little strange. They thought to themselves: "Is it because the general is holding a grudge? Seeing that General Cao was not very respectful to him in the past, he planned to take this opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's hand to avenge his private revenge!" He couldn't help but feel a little chill on his back!

Wu Rui also looked sad and said quickly: "This, this, General, if General Cao had any offense in the past, please forgive me! Here Wu Rui apologized to the General Cao on behalf of General Cao!"

Cao Shen also said angrily: "If the general kills me, please let me kill you at this time and let Cao defeat his army and die. Cao refuses!" Cao Shen is really a tough guy.

"Yes, General Kuanhong is a lot. If General Cao had offended him in the past, please forgive this!" The generals also pleaded for mercy.

Suddenly, Han Xin laughed loudly, and the generals were stunned. With a smile, Han Xin stood up and left his seat to come among the generals, laughing and said, "What do you think of Han as?? Han has been deeply kind to Your Majesty. He has gained a high position without any merit. He is planning to make achievements to repay His Majesty. How could he do that to destroy the Great Wall?? Don't worry, this time, deliberately let General Cao defeat this time is a strategy to lure the enemy. Although Long Gang is a shameful temper, he is also a little strategy. Our army

He would definitely be suspicious if he saw me lined up across the river, how could he dare to come easily? If the war was delayed for a long time and Xiang Liang came from Pengcheng, our army would be in danger. Therefore, he could only use deception to loosen his heart and tempt him to cross the river to pursue him. At that time, he could only defeat him in one fell swoop. The reason why General Cao was the choice to lure the enemy this time was because General Cao and Long Qi had fought with him, and he was more familiar with him, and he was wise and brave, and could take on heavy responsibilities, which was definitely not an act of revenge on his own. Do not doubt all generals!"

All the generals realized their enlightenment and their faces were a little striking! Cao Shen also said with a red face: "The last general will judge a gentleman's belly by his villain's heart. Please forgive me!"

Han Xin smiled disapprovingly and said, "It doesn't matter. When everyone gets familiar with Han in the future, they will know my character! General Cao, this temptation to lure the enemy is about being real but not real, and not fake. To master a standard, you must make Long think that our army really will not be defeated because of the defeat. This important task is very difficult and has certain dangers. I see that only General Cao is suitable for this task, and I wonder if he dares to take this task! "Cao Shen was a little excited for a moment, and raised his fist and said in a deep voice: "I hope to accept this military order. If it cannot be achieved, I will come and see you!"

"Okay, the general is mighty, it's really magnificent! He is worthy of being an important official promoted by His Majesty!" Han Xin was also very happy.

Suddenly, Wu Rui said, "General, you have not had two doubts, I wonder if you can say it?" "Do you say it? Han will not be a sect. All the generals have different opinions. You can say it out and let everyone advise you!" Han Xin said with a smile.

Wu Rui hesitated and said, "The first question: This will cause more than 10,000 soldiers to take on such a heavy responsibility of seducing the enemy. Is it a bit inappropriate? Your Majesty will be dissatisfied if he knows it. Second, I don't know what the general's real 'killer' is, and whether he can really defeat Long Ji in one fell swoop! I have not said anything foolishly, so I hope the general will not be surprised!"

Han Xin also looked solemn when he heard this. After walking a few steps, he said seriously: "Dear generals, You Dao is kind and not in charge of soldiers. A true commander will not put the casualties of soldiers first. He only has overall victory. For the overall victory, any sacrifice is necessary and should be done. Your Majesty is a person who knows the military and will not have any objection to this. As for what my "killer" is, you don't need to know. The reason why secrets are secrets is that few people know. If there are too many people know, can they still be called secrets? Okay, go back and prepare for each other. This battle tomorrow is not worth the weight!"

"Here!" Everyone looked at it, and had a new view of Han Xin in their hearts: it was cruel enough to exchange the lives of more than 10,000 soldiers for overall victory!

In the early morning, on the west bank of the Huai River, Longqi's army rose up and rushed towards the Huai River.

The army could not go far, and suddenly heard the sound of hooves in front of him like thunder. A cavalry repelled the horse and reported: "General Long, Guangling was captured by the Qin army three days ago. Last night, Han Xin had led about 60,000 main forces to the east of the Huai River to station. At present, the Qin army has blocked the Huai River. The villain has gone around more than a hundred miles before he found the general crossing the river and returned!"

"What!? Guangling fell!?" Long Qi was stunned. Han Xin was so quick!

"What about life and death of Zhao Gong now?" Long Qi and Zhao Gongtong were in good terms and asked anxiously.

"I died in a fierce battle, and I survived and died with Guangling!" The Chu army was also a little sad.

"Han Xin, little boy," Long Qi gritted his teeth and said, "I will not be a human being if I don't break you up!" Suddenly, he shouted, "The army will speed up the advance, defeat Han Xin first, and then seize Guangling!" "Yes!" The messenger responded and ran down to pass the command.

In an instant, the 80,000 powerful Chu soldiers accelerated their speed, with flags flying, and their feet rolling towards the Huai River.

Seeing that the Huai River was about to reach Huai River, suddenly he explored the way forward and brought a man to report to him: "Report to General Long, Han Xin sent a prisoner from our army to send a letter and a wooden box, please check it out!"

"Oh!" Long Qi held back the war horse, took the letter first, opened it to look, and the book said:

The Qin general Han Xin sent the Chu army general Long Qie: Why is the general coming? Xin couldn't wait for the general, so he took Guangling first and asked Hai Han. I heard that Zhao Gong and General Long were old friends, and Xin was a person who valued love. He specially sent Zhao Gong's head back, so he would not thank him!

After reading this letter, the muscles on Long Qi kept twitching like cramps, and his face turned pale in an instant, and he thought to himself: "This is clearly a demonstration to me, why don't you say thank you! I'm extremely annoyed!" He gritted his teeth and said, "Open the wooden box!" "Now!" He opened the wooden box at hand, and inside it was the head of Zhao Gong: he opened his eyebrows and stood his eyebrows, as if he was unwilling to give up!

Seeing his old friend's miserable situation, Long Qi finally became furious and cursed: "Han Xin's son bullies me too much! I will not be a human being if I don't kill you today! Come here, send an order quickly and advance at full speed to avenge the general!" "Yes!" The Chu army cheered up, rolled up smoke and dust in the sky, and rushed towards the Huai River. It was so powerful that it was as murderous as the sky.

...

The rumbling sound of flowing became clearer and clearer, and the weeds, reeds, alfalfa, etc. next to the road were becoming more and more dense. Gradually, the broad Huai River appeared in front of the Chu army.

"Report - General Long, the Qin army's vanguard troops were about 10,000 people riding on a raft. The boat began to cross the river and came to our army!" A cavalry rushed to report Long Qie.

"Is that true!" Long Qi was a little surprised and hurriedly rode his horse to a nearby hill and looked east. Not far away, there were hundreds of ferries on the Huai River, and the rafts were drifting with the flow from the east bank to the west bank, densely packed like ants. Long Qi saw the word "Cao" on the flag at a glance, and couldn't help laughing: "It turned out to be a defeated general, no wonder he was such a fool. If he didn't wait to build a floating bridge, he would cross the river to attack. Wouldn't it give our army a chance to attack halfway? Han Xin's son, his strategy is just like this!"

But Long Qi was not a reckless person. He looked out to the east bank of the river on the hill and looked away: Wherever he saw, except for Cao Shen’s more than 10,000 Qin troops, he did not see a single Qin army. Long Qi laughed and said, “Did this Han Xin think that he could defeat someone with just over 10,000 troops? It’s ridiculous, ridiculous, let me deal with you!” As he said, Long Qi shouted: “Come here, I’ll send our military orders. The three armies immediately lined up two miles away from the river bank, put most of the Qin army ashore first, listen to my orders to attack!” “Here!” The commander ran away.

In an instant, the Chu army brigade stopped, 20,000 baggage troops retreated, and 60,000 main forces immediately set up tight attack formations on the river bank, waiting for the Qin army to arrive.

"Hey, hey..." Above the Huai River, more than ten thousand Qin soldiers took a raft and boat, rowing hard toward the west bank with horns. The loud sound of trumpets and the surging sound of water stimulated the Qin army's blood and fighting spirit. Although the wind was cold, everyone was sweating. I don't know if it was tired of rowing or feeling excited!

Cao Shen stood on the bow of a large ship and looked towards the west bank. When he saw that the Qin army's vanguard ship had not reached the shore, the Chu army had already set up a tight formation on the west bank. Looking at the Qin army who were still fighting with high spirits, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "In this battle, I don't know how many of these lively men can come back alive!"

The soldiers were fierce and dangerous, and ancient times were wise. Cao Shen did not care about sentimentality, so he forced himself to cheer up and shouted: "Brothers, hurry up and kill the shore, give the Chu army a little more powerful, let them see what a powerful soldier is in the battle! Kill—" "Kill—!" The Qin army also shouted loudly, and there were shouting killing on the river.

"Bang——, bang————” Soon, the Qin army pioneers crossed the river and landed one after another, and immediately rushed to a group of crossbow soldiers, quickly forming a solid line of defense on the bank of the river to cover the Qin army behind them to land.

For a time, hundreds of Qin army ships and rafts began to land, sending a large number of Qin army soldiers to the west coast of the Huai River. Due to the large number of people and ships, although the Qin army was a well-trained strong brigade, they could not help but fall into chaos for a while.

Long Qi stood in front of the Chu army and quietly looked at the Qin army's crossing the river. Soon, the time finally came: at this time, about half of the Qin army's troops had successfully landed, and the river bank was filled with rafts of rafts, which were messy like a vegetable market; the other half of the troops were still drifting along the river surface, rowing towards the west bank; as for the east bank, there were no Qin soldiers on the base, only a few lonely boats were left.

"Cao Shen, this time you are still alive!" A grim smile appeared on Long Qie's rough face. Suddenly, a long roar was raised to the sky, and a murderous roar shook the fields. A murderous roar came out, igniting the long-bearing Chu army: "Kill--!"

"Kill--!" With the commander's roar, 55,000 Chu army infantry stepped on the ground that had just been thawed, and rolled towards the Qin army on the river bank like a group of angry elephants.

The Qin army had just arrived ashore and had not yet been able to form a complete formation, so it was about to fight the fierce Chu army. The situation was particularly severe. However, the Qin army, who had been in the battle formation for a long time, seemed to be no fear. The crossbow soldiers immediately rushed forward and launched a fierce attack on the Chu army, in order to compete for precious time to arrange the brothers behind them.

"Swish swish swish swish swish..." The three serial crossbow formations of Qin's army were powerful, and three thousand sharp green arrows screamed in the air, drew a series of smooth and powerful lines, and landed heavily among the Chu army soldiers rushing towards the formation.

"Pu, pu, pu..." The sound of blood splashing like a bean started one after another, and the Chu army immediately splashed with weird blood flowers in front of the army. The long-trained crossbow soldiers of the Qin army showed terrible attack power and accuracy. In just one round of volleys, nearly 1,500 less Chu soldiers were knocked to the ground.

The blood of the Chu army immediately dyed the west coast of the Huai River red.

Qin and Chu are already old rivals. The Chu army knew the power of the Qin army's crossbow soldiers, but there was no good way to restrain them. Only by rushing through the terrifying three hundred-step killing distance as soon as possible can we survive and win. So the fierce Chu army did not dodge. In the overwhelming rain of the Qin army, they rushed straight like a group of furious beasts, and the speed was like a sprint of three hundred meters.

Cao Shen, who watched the Chu army approaching quickly, had already arrived ashore, and was quickly commanding the Qin army to arrange the formation, was also a little panicked: under the fierce impact of the Chu army, only by forming a strict formation could he persist for a while, and when he retreated, more soldiers could survive, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

So Cao Shen, who was so anxious that he jumped up and down, shouted: "Hurry, hurry, each arrange according to the organization!... Fuck you faster!... The spear soldiers first, the beryllium soldiers then, the halberd soldiers finally... Don't be messed up, hurry faster!..."

Just as Cao Shen was busy commanding the Qin army to line up, the Chu soldiers had already rushed through the second round of Qin army's arrow rain, and reached within 200 steps. The Qin army's formation had just begun, and Cao Shen had a cold sweat on his forehead. When the Chu army rushed through the third round of Qin army's arrow rain and approached within 100 steps, the spear soldiers were at least arranged first, and the beryllium soldiers were already arranged in half, and most of the halberd soldiers were still slashing hard on the river surface!
To be continued...