The news that Zhang Chu's army collapsed completely on the Western Front battlefield was sent by Chen Sheng's Zhang Chu's small court directly sent an envoy. In addition to meeting Xiang Kang's request to communicate information with the Zhang Chu's court, Chen Sheng, who had almost zero control over foreign generals, was still fantastic and ordered Xiang Liang and Xiang Kang, who were just subservient to Zhang Chu's small court, to send troops to reinforce Chen County and help his mobs resist the attack of Zhang Han's army.

Of course, Xiang Kang would only send troops to Chen County to die in vain. However, for his hypocritical reputation and in order to quickly grasp the movements of Zhang Han's army through the small court of Zhang Chu, Xiang Kang still agreed to contact Xiang Liang immediately. After obtaining Xiang Liang's consent, he sent troops to reinforce Chen Sheng as soon as possible, so as to send Chen Sheng's envoy away. Then Xiang Kang immediately turned his attention to the western front, closely followed the situation of his own army's western expedition, and planned when to withdraw the western conscription horses and respond to the attack of Zhang Han's army with all his strength.

It surprised Xiang Kang. The western expedition initiated by Xiang Zhuang with Xiang Guan was not as smooth as he expected. Although Xiang Zhuang's troops bypassed the Mangdang line, which was the focus of the Qin army in Dang County, and avoided the strong and weak to attack the empty Xiayi town of the Qin army, the Young Commander's Army still took a full five days to capture this small county town, which was guarded by only the Qin army's county soldiers, and at the same time, they also lost nearly 400 soldiers in the siege, which was quite difficult to fight.

After careful study of Xiangzhuang's military information report, Xiang Kang found that Xiangzhuang's troops were not going well, which was probably related to his reorganization some time ago. At that time, in order to strengthen his direct army, Xiang Kang incorporated many elite veterans into the direct army. However, the ones handed over to Xiangzhuang were the recruits he recruited in Fuyang and Pengcheng, while Xiang Guan's army was even more miserable. More than 70% of the recruits recruited by the Young Commander Army in Xiaxiang, Lingxian and Huaiyin. The overall quality of the army has declined, so it was so difficult to fight in the tough battle.

Fortunately, Xiang Kang still has some time to train these recruits, and he still has the opportunity to train and improve the army of Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan in actual combat. At the same time, Zheng Bu and Ding Ji also confronted the Qin army of Mangdang in Xiang County, so there was no need to worry that Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan were in a tough battle. Therefore, Xiang Kang neither blamed Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan for their ineffective combat nor gave up the idea of ​​continuing the Western Expedition. He was patient and just continued to observe the situation of the Western Expedition.

At the same time, Xiangzhuang and Xiangguan's troops followed the original plan of the Western Expedition of the Young Marshal Army. After struggling to capture the small town of Xiayi, they quickly turned southwest and launched an attack on Li County behind the two Mangdang counties. After hearing the news, Dong Ke, the Dang County Supervisor who led the Qin army of Mangdang, immediately understood that the Young Marshal Army wanted to cut off his connection with the rear of Suiyang, and then joined forces with the Young Marshal Army of Xiang County to attack his own army from the front and back. In order not to fall into a passive situation, Dong Ke immediately made a decision. While ordering the Qin army of Li County to defend the city with all its strength, he personally led the Qin army of Mangdang to help Li County, intending to use the two Mangdang cities to temporarily restrain the Young Marshal Army of Xiang County to win time to defeat the enemy, first repel Xiangzhuang's troops, and then turn back to deal with the Young Marshal Army of Xiang County.

Dong Ke made a clever choice. Because of the limited speed of message transmission by road traffic, when Xiangzhuang's troops entered Li County, the young commander of Xiang County, who had not yet prepared for the preparation, was not ready for attack. After discovering that Dong Ke had retreated through careful scouts, the two generals Zheng Bu and Ding Ji hurriedly advanced westward, missing the opportunity to bite Dong Ke's tail. At this critical moment, Xiang Zhuang made a wrong choice. After finding out that Dong Ke's army had returned to Li County, Xiang Zhuang did not choose to let the army move forward slowly and retain its physical strength. Wait for Zheng Bu and Ding Ji to come to help, but instead let the army move forward faster, intending to break through the Sui River first, and then wait for reinforcements to come and attack the Mangdang Qin army.

Strictly speaking, Xiang Zhuang's choice was not too wrong. After breaking through Sui River first and waiting for reinforcements to come to help, Xiang Zhuang's troops did not need to cross the river first to attack the Qin army, and their grasp of the attack was much greater. However, people's calculations were not as good as God's conclusion. Xiang Zhuang's troops, carrying a large amount of food and supplies, advanced relatively slowly. They were rushed to the south bank of Sui River by the Mangdang Qin army, and blocked the road to the south of Xiang Zhuang's troops on the road.

It is no wonder that the misfortune of the horse was lost. Although Xiang Zhuang did this a little lacking in consideration, he accidentally blocked the Mangdang Qin army's crossing the river and smashed the hope of the Mangdang Qin army's quick battle and decisive decision. However, the chief general of the Qin army Dong Ke was quite a plan. He expected that the food and grass of the Young Commander's army would be difficult to guarantee and did not dare to confront him for a long time. So he asked the Mangdang Qin army to deliberately repair fortifications on the favorable terrain on the south bank of the Sui River and set out to garrison here for a long time. After Xiang Zhuang discovered it, he was indeed trapped. In order not to time for the Mangdang Qin army to establish solid fortifications, he hurriedly collected a batch of ferries and immediately launched a ferry. As a result, he was defeated by the sufficiently prepared Mangdang Qin army and lost more than 500 troops in one breath.

Fortunately, this crushing defeat finally awakened Xiang Zhuang, making Xiang Zhuang understand his weakness. There were too many new recruits in the army and his combat effectiveness had declined. At the same time, it was the first time that he commanded such a battle of more than 10,000 people. It was the first time that he had to deal with the main force of the Qin army alone. He had too little command experience. If he continued to be so reckless, he would definitely be inevitable to lose. So Xiang Zhuang quickly forced himself to calm down. While completely dispelling the idea of ​​a quick battle, he sent people to contact Ding Ji and Zheng Bu, asking them to advance to Li County as soon as possible and help him work together to deal with the Mangdang Qin army led by Dong Ke.

It was finally Dong Ke's turn to scratch his head. Although he had just won a battle, he was blocked by Sui Shui and wanted to cross the river to fight, he would definitely be attacked by Xiang Zhuang halfway. After delaying for a long time, the reinforcements of the Young Commander's army arrived, and the Qin army in Mangdang must be at a disadvantage again. After racking his brains, Dong Ke simply wrote a contemptuous letter of war, sent people to cross the river to fight against Xiang Zhuang, hoping to anger Xiang Zhuang and lure Xiang Zhuang across the river to fight.

Unfortunately, Xiang Zhuang is known for his steady personality among the children of the Xiang family. After calming down, he has returned to normal. He has been with Xiang Kang for a long time and has been very thick-skinned. Therefore, after reading the letter that Dong Ke deliberately provoked, Xiang Zhuang not only did not get angry, but instead smiled at the Qin army envoy and said, "Go back and tell Dong Ke that he can fight to the decisive battle. As long as he dares to cross the river, I will accompany him to the end, but I will be spared if I ask me to cross the river. I am not in a hurry. Our reinforcements will arrive soon. Let me see who is in a hurry at that time."

Xiang Guan had a different opinion. After the Qin army envoy left, Xiang Guan immediately asked Xiang Zhuang: "Brother, it is safer to stand in front of the river and wait for reinforcements, but what if the tyrant Qin army has established solid fortifications on the south bank of the Sui River? We have no food channels to replenish food. If we cannot defeat the camp of the tyrant Qin army and have all the food again, how can we fight?"

"It is better to use up all the food than to take risks with the army." Xiang Zhuang replied: "You have seen the situation of the tyrannical Qin army in Dang County with your own eyes. It is much stronger than we expected. There are too many new recruits in our army and insufficient combat power. We forcefully cross the river and fight to the decisive battle. We are too small to be safer only when Zheng Bu and Ding Ji's reinforcements arrive and then cross the river."

After saying that, Xiang Zhuang comforted Xiang Guan again and said, "Don't be anxious, we dare not confront the tyrant Qin army for a long time, but if we really can't capture the camp of the tyrant Qin army, we can turn around and attack Mangxian and Dangxian. At that time, the tyrant Qin army does not turn around to reinforce Mangdang, and we can definitely easily take down the two counties of Mangdang. If we turn around to reinforce, it will also give us a chance to fight to defeat the enemy."

Seeing that his brother had made up his mind and Xiang Guan, who lacked military experience than Xiang Zhuang, did not say anything more. He honestly followed Xiang Zhuang to command the army to guard the north bank camp carefully, monitored the Sui River Ferry, and patiently waited for the arrival of reinforcements. No matter how the Qin army insulted and provoked the south bank of Sui River, he would no longer take risks to rush to ferry.

The Young Marshal's Army also had a disadvantage of doing this. Before that, because of the dense population of Dang County, the people of Dang County who were unwilling to endure the tyrannical Qin rule, were eager to join the army. Almost every day, one or two hundred people came to the Young Marshal's Army camp to actively join the army, allowing the Young Marshal's Army to select male men of appropriate age to supplement the army as they please. However, after being blocked by the Sui Shui Ferry, the number of people of Dang County who took the initiative to join the army decreased rapidly. At most, they could only recruit more than ten qualified soldiers in a day, and the gap was quite obvious.

Xiang Zhuang, who had accumulated a lot of experience, did not care at all. He knew that as long as his own army could defeat the Mangdang Qin army, the situation would definitely improve immediately. Xiang Guan, who finally got the opportunity to go out of the war, was quite worried and very concerned about this matter. On the evening of the second day after he decided to stick to his determination to wait for assistance, Xiang Guan personally came to the recruitment office outside the camp to find out the situation. Unfortunately, this day was even fewer than in the previous few days, and only twelve qualified soldiers were recruited in one day.

"Why are there fewer and fewer people?" Xiang Guan asked the recruiter with some dissatisfaction: "Did your subordinates be lazy and did not go to the surrounding town pavilions to promote them and persuade the villagers here to join our Young Marshal's Army?"

"Captain, no." The recruiter shouted injustice: "The subordinates of the subordinates go to the surrounding town pavilions every day to persuade the villagers to join the army. Their voices were almost hoarse, but those people were afraid that they would not come to die, so the subordinates could do nothing."

Xiang Guan was even more disappointed and was asking the recruiter to finish today's recruitment mission. Unexpectedly, a fast horse suddenly ran from afar and came directly at the camp gate of the Young Commander's Army at a very fast speed. Xiang Guan initially thought that it was the scout of his own army who discovered the enemy's situation and came back to report it, but when he looked carefully, Xiang Guan was quite surprised to find that the knight was just an ordinary person's outfit. Xiang Guan immediately let out a mouth and ordered: "Stop him."

Xiang Guan's personal soldiers took the order and shouted loudly to come and stopped the horse. What surprised Xiang Guan was that the man had just heard the shouts of his personal soldiers and suddenly stopped the horse in the high-speed sprint. The horse raised its hooves to stop. The man was as if he had taken root on the horse's back and was not affected at all. He just clamped the horse with his legs tightly until the horse's inertia disappeared and the front hooves fell to the ground. Then he calmly turned over and got off the horse and walked on the horse. You must know that there were no high-bridge saddles and stirrups in this era. There were not many people who could do such difficult movements in this era.

"Generals, don't get me wrong. The villain came to join the army." While leading the horse over, the man shouted again: "I heard that your young generals' army had entered Dang County, so I came to join the army from Suiyang. I want to join you and join you in the fight against the violent Qin."

No matter how hard he struggled, it was useless. Zheng Bu, who saw through the Qin army's purpose at first sight, Ding Ji decisively adopted a defensive defensive and withstood the Qin army's attack with a tight formation. Xiang Zhuang relied on his military advantage to continuously attack the Nanban Ferry. The Qin army's soldiers responsible for intercepting were barely able to support it, but after a long time, they were quickly stretched out and the defense line was broken one after another. Even if the soldiers of Li County rushed to help, it would not be very useful. Dong Ke was anxious and kept urging the main force to attack the strong formation of the Young Marshal's Army. The Young Marshal's Army, who was sure to win, stood firm and persisted to cross the river successfully. Dong Ke had no choice but to give up the Nanban camp, which he had not planned to stick to at all, and led his army to retreat to Li County to defend the city before being surrounded by the Young Marshal's Army.

Next, Xiang Zhuang, who had recovered his calmness, became much smarter. Knowing that the main force of the Qin army retreated to the city and then wanted to take Li County, he decisively chose to avoid the real and go to the false, and brought the Young Marshal's army east to attack the second city of Mangdang. Dong Ke, who was already at a disadvantage, dared not move anymore, so he had to watch the Young Marshal's army return calmly, easily take down the second city of Mangdang that he had been holding for several months, and expand his territory to Dang County.

When the war report was sent to Pengcheng, Xiang Kang was not happy. First, the Western Expedition Army did not achieve the established purpose of annihilation of the main force of the Qin army in Dang County, leaving behind side hidden dangers. Second, the Young Commander's Army also exposed many weaknesses and shortcomings in this Western Expedition. The main general Xiang Zhuang lacked agility. If he wanted to stand alone, he still needed to continue to hone his skills. After the division of troops, the various armies lacked cooperation. He missed the precious fighter opportunity to encircle the enemy. The army was still a little afraid of hard battles, and its combat effectiveness must be improved, so Xiang Kang couldn't imagine that if Zhang Han's army attacked Chen Sheng and the main force came directly to him, how could he resist it? How could he resist it?

What made Xiang Kang even more worried was Xiang Liang's attitude. After Xiang Kang sent the emergency letter to Jiangdong, Xiang Liang, who had not had time to completely pacify the land in Jiangdong, not only did not consider sending troops north immediately to reinforce Xiang Kang, his precious nephew, but also comforted Xiang Kang, saying that Chen Sheng would not be able to collapse so easily in the first half, and would definitely get enough time for the Young Commander Army to respond, so that Xiang Kang would give himself some more time, and he would send troops to help Xiang Kang after he had freed up his hands.

"No matter how great a hero is, there are times when you are confused. If you are also a time traveler, you will know how vulnerable Chen Sheng's troops are in front of Zhang Han."
Chapter completed!