On the west bank of the river, Zhou Bo and Mei Ke were sighing regretfully.

"Damn it!" Zhou Bo said with a hatred, "Hurry up, it's still one step late!"

"Yes." Mei Jing also said with great regret, "The Chu army has only one hundred and sixty small boats, and it will only take a thousand ferries for one round trip. If we had known that the Chu army would dare to cross the river, we would have a half-ferry to attack him. Hey, at that time, the child of Xiangzhuang should have jumped into the river to feed the fish. What a pity, it was such a pity."

At this time, the farewell sounds of the Chu army still rang out in waves.

"Zhou Bo, Mei Jiao, two generals, please stay here, don't work far away, don't work far away..."

Zhou Guanfu said angrily: "Father, let's collect ships and cross the river to chase them."

Zhou Bo sighed, "I'm afraid there is no ship nearby, so I'd better go upstream and downstream to find it."

Mei Jing said, "General Zhou, let's take action separately. I'll go upstream, you go downstream, collect the ships and gather here immediately, and ferry the army across the river to pursue!"

Zhou Bo nodded and immediately acted separately with Mei Jiao.

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On the east bank of the river, more than 150 ships of all sizes have been moored.

In addition to the batch of ships that had crossed the river before, more than 300 ships had already filled the entire river beach.

As soon as Xiang Zhuang jumped off the boat, he ordered Jing Qian: "Jing Qian, send 500 light soldiers to carry these more than 300 large and small ships to the forest over there to hide them. Remember to hide them separately, half of them are hidden outside the forest, just hide them casually, and the other half must be hidden deep in the forest, and all traces must be eliminated!"

"No!" Jing Qian agreed with the promise and immediately took the order.

Huan Chu said in confusion: "General, why do you want to hide the ship separately?"

Ji Bu also echoed: "Yes, why don't you drag all the boats deep in the forest to hide?"

Xiang Zhuang said calmly: "It's very simple. This is to save half of the ship deep in the forest."

Wu She suddenly said, "General is saying that half of the ships were sacrificed to save the other half of the ship?"

"Sir, that's what you said." Xiang Zhuang said, then turned around and looked at Wei Liao. There was a hint of undetectable grin on the corners of both of them. The purpose of this move was not that simple.

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Late at night, the eight hundred miles of Zhao's emergency delivery was sent to Puyang again.

Sui He hurried into the hall with a roll of bamboo slips and reported to Liu Bang: "King, Zhao Di is urgently handed over!"

"Come on!" Liu Bang immediately grew up, reached out to take the bamboo slips and spread it out again. After reading it quickly, he frowned, and then handed the bamboo slips to Zhang Liang again, while saying, "I didn't expect that, I really didn't expect that the little boy Xiangzhuang really didn't know how to live or die, and he rushed back to Qi, hum!"

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping also changed their faces slightly when they heard this, which was really unexpected.

Liu Bang touched his beard and asked Zhang Liang: "How is the Zifang, how is the beacon tower in Qidi?"

Zhang Liang replied while looking at the bamboo slips: "Five days ago, the King of Qi condemned the flying cavalry to report. He had built beacon towers along Juyeze, Gucheng, and Dixian until Dixian. The 300,000 troops had already divided into ten routes and entered the major cities along the Jishui River. If the remnants of the Chu army really went deep into Qi, they would definitely have come and go, and they would have no return, and they would have no death or life."

"That's good." Liu Bang nodded and said, "Then let Zhou Bo and his friends cross the river as soon as possible to drive the remnants of the Chu army to the Jishui River. This war cannot be delayed anymore, otherwise, Guanzhong's food and fodder will not be able to provide assistance. This time, it is necessary to kill Xiang Zhuang's remnants of the Chu army along the Jishui River!"

Chen Ping pondered for a moment and said, "But just to be careful, we should leave an army to guard Huguan."

"Not only Huguan, but also Jingxingguan!" Zhang Liang said, "In addition, all the large and small ships that can be collected on both sides of the river must be burned to prevent the remnants of the Chu army from crossing the river water west again and rushing into Zhao!"

"Okay." Liu Bang nodded and said to Chen Ping again, "Chen Ping, then I'll have a hard time."

"Don't worry, I will go and arrange this." Chen Ping bowed and took the order.

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On the east bank of the river, Xinyi.

Xinyi is the later Xinxian County, but now it is just a small town.

There were thousands of households in Xinyi. Just because the river water had to be flooded almost every year in the past ten years, and the people were unable to survive every year, they fled one after another. So far, there are less than five hundred households left in Xinyi City. However, the walls of Xinyi are made of blue bricks, which are quite strong. Rammed earth cannot resist flood attacks, right?

It was the darkest time before dawn that the whistleblower at the head of Xinyi City yawned and was about to walk into the enemy building to take a break, but just as he turned around, he faintly found a little light on the horizon ahead from the corner of his eyes. When he took a step and looked back quickly, he saw a faint light slowly squirming under the night sky ahead.

"This is..." The shouzhang rubbed his eyes and found that the light had not disappeared, obviously not a phantom.

After less than half a bag of cigarettes, the light became much closer to Xinyi and turned into a fire dragon.

The whistlemen quickly woke up the dozen or so Minzhuang who were on duty. Minzhuang's team leader was a veteran who participated in the Pengcheng War. He was sent to Xinyi for retirement because his right leg was limp. The veteran only glanced outside the city, and his face changed drastically. He shouted loudly: "The army, there is an army marching! Blow the trumpet, blow the trumpet quickly to warn!"

After saying this, the veteran yelled again: "Send another flying cavalry to ask Puyang for emergency!"

Veterans are veterans and have rich experience. This army suddenly appears without saying hello. It is obviously an enemy but not a friend!

More than a dozen civilians and soldiers suddenly exploded. Two of them rolled and crawled down to the city, found the horns from the barracks and blew them hard. In an instant, the endless sound of horns had already surged into the sky, and the sleeping people and defenders were alarmed. In less than half a cup of tea, the whole of Xinyi was already in full swing.

#############

In the east of Xinyi City, more than 4,000 Chu troops were advancing south with great fanfare.

Going far to Xinyi, beacon fires have already ignited on the top of the city. Obviously, the land of Qi is already covered with beacon towers. If the Chu army continues to advance, it will inevitably repeat the mistakes of Zhao. No matter where they go, the beacon fire and wolf smoke will always follow them, and hundreds of thousands of Han troops, the Qi army will inevitably flock from all directions.

Wu She caught up with Xiang Zhuang and said worriedly: "General, we really shouldn't go back to Qi. Look, the Xinyi beacon fires are together, Han Xin, Liu Bang and the others will know that we have come back soon. By then, Liu Bang and Han Xin's hundreds of thousands of troops rushed from all directions. We can't find any gaps even if we want to break through."

After saying this, Wu She said again: "General, Qi is not as good as Zhao."

Wu She's words are very truthful. The situations in Qi and Zhao are indeed different, and they are very different. Although King Zhang Er of Zhao was also conferred by Liu Bang, Zhang Er never regarded Liu Bang as his father. The Chu army fled into Zhao. Zhang Er just ordered all places to raise beacons to inform the Han army, but never sent a soldier to assist in the war.

King Han Xin of Qi was very different. Han Xin obeyed Liu Bang's old man, at least now. Once the Chu army entered Qi, it would not only face the encirclement and interception of various Han troops, but also face the layers of interception by Han Xin's 300,000 troops. This is not a joke. If you are not careful, it will be the end of the destruction of the entire army.

"Sir, right. Han Xin is more difficult to deal with than Zhang Er. Qi is much more dangerous than Zhao. If you are not careful, the entire army will be destroyed immediately!" Xiang Zhuang nodded and said deeply, "So, we cannot delay much in Qi. We must kill Qi in the shortest time and return to Chu!"

Wu She just smiled bitterly and shook her head when she heard this. It was easy to say, but can she go back?

Behind Xiang Zhuang, Huan Chu, Ji Bu, and Xiao Kai were also very excited, but Yu Ziqi frowned, and a confused look faintly appeared between his eyebrows. When is he returning to Chu?

#############

When more than 4,500 Chu troops crossed Xinyi and advanced south overnight, Zhou Bo had already taken the lead in crossing the river with 5,000 elite troops.

The Han army sent all cavalry to collect more than 500 ships of all sizes and sizes, and gathered the ships together overnight. As soon as it was dawn, Zhou Bo's five thousand elite soldiers boarded the ship, and then stepped onto the east bank of the river in the thin morning light. As soon as he got ashore, Zhou Bo ordered the healthy soldiers who were familiar with the water to row the ship back to the north bank and responded to the subsequent army to cross the river.

Then the five thousand Han troops began to form a formation and sent a large number of scouts to reconnaise at the same time.

As a battle-hardened long-standing rival, Zhou Bo kept his vigilance at all times.

Even though the Chu army was basically impossible to attack halfway, Zhou Bo was still very careful, not afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of something!

At three o'clock in the sun, the second batch of 5,000 Han troops successfully stepped onto the east bank of the river. Zhou Bo then breathed a little relieved. Tens of thousands of elite troops had gathered on the east bank of the river. If the Chu army wanted to attack the Han army halfway, it would be a delusion. At the same time, the scouts sent out for reconnaissance also discovered it.

Soon, Zhou Bo brought five hundred light cavalry to the outer edge of the forest.

Looking at the more than a hundred ships hidden in the bushes, Zhou Bo couldn't help frowning.

Zhou Guanfu said: "Father, why do Xiangzhuang hide these ships? Don't hide them well? Just like that, can you just send a few scouts to find them?" After saying this, Zhou Guanfu had a sudden idea, looked up at the depths of the dense forest, and said in a deep voice, "Is it because Xiangzhuang is deliberately concealing that there is another batch of ships hidden in the forest?"

"My son is worried too much." Zhou Bo shook his head and said, "When the Chu army crossed the river yesterday, we saw it. They only had more than a hundred ships, all of them here."

Obviously, the scene on the north bank of the river had already created a preconceived mindset for Zhou Bo. Once the human mindset is formed, it will be difficult to break through on its own. Zhou Guanfu just said that there are still a group of ships in the forest, which does not mean that he has broken through the mindset. He is just talking casually.

Zhou Guanfu did not insist and said, "Why didn't the Chu army hide the ship more hidden?"

"There are only two possibilities." Zhou Bo pondered for a moment, and had already reached a conclusion. He said now, "First, the Chu army did not plan to cross the river again. He hid the boat just in case, so he was too lazy to spend more time; second, the Chu army was in a hurry and they were eager to leave, so they didn't have time to hide these ships seriously." #############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Chapter completed!