Chapter 363: Hedong County, the coalition of princes rises!
Just as Gao Yao had just sent out his personal soldiers, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, who was far away in Yecheng, had also led his troops out of the city. This team avoided the main road and chose a less traveled path, heading straight for Guilin County. At this moment, the two sides seemed to be engaged in an invisible but extremely fierce battle for time.
At the same time, the situation in Hedong County has also changed dramatically. Unknowingly, a huge army of more than 100,000 has gathered here! These armies come from different camps and have complicated relationships with each other. The most famous person among them is Xiang Yu. Since the defeat in Kuaiji, Xiang Yu has been rushing towards Dongjun with his remaining troops. Because as long as they cross Dongjun, the next step is the crucial pass, and after passing the pass, Xianyang City is just around the corner.
Based on such strategic considerations, Xiang Yu resolutely led his troops to Dongjun. Fortunately, Fan Zeng, who was resourceful, gave him advice, so Xiang Yu did not act blindly because of the immediate benefits. On the contrary, under Fan Zeng's advice, Xiang Yu decided to keep his troops in place for the time being and began to summon heroes from all walks of life to Dongjun. They planned to gather forces from all sides and discuss how to launch a fatal attack on Xianyang.
It must be said that the strategies and suggestions proposed by Yi Xiaochuan were indeed quite ingenious. When they were actually put into practice, all kinds of unexpected problems came one after another. Almost all of Yi Xiaochuan's action plans were planned and formulated in accordance with the original historical trajectory, but the cruel reality is that the current situation is very different from that period of history. One of the most difficult and critical factors is the uprising forces that have sprung up everywhere.
In the original historical process, the goals set by these rebels in the early stages were almost exactly the same. That was to engage in a fierce battle with the powerful Qin Empire, as if all the rebels in the world were pointing their spearheads at the Qin Empire. However, the situation at this moment has changed dramatically. Due to a series of unexpected measures by the court, especially the strategy and means of enfeoffment, it did cause a lot of contradictions within the rebels to a considerable extent.
In particular, there are many problems with the issue of enfeoffment. Many of the princes granted by the court are just in name only, without actual power or fiefdom. As a result, those who are truly powerful become dissatisfied. And this is exactly the original intention of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan to carefully plan this series of events - to delay the pace of the Qin Empire's demise.
Of course, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan knew very well that this was just a temporary expedient and could not delay the demise of the Qin Dynasty for a long time. But for him, it was enough to buy some time. As long as he could concentrate his superior forces to launch a fierce attack on the southern border, he might be able to achieve his strategic goal.
As for why Fan Zeng persuaded Xiang Yu in Dongjun to give up launching an attack directly according to Yi Xiaochuan's proposal, the reason behind it was this. Fan Zeng knew that the situation was complicated and changeable at the time. If he acted rashly, he would probably fall into a passive situation, or even lead to the annihilation of the whole army. Therefore, after careful consideration, he urged Xiang Yu to change the original battle plan, re-examine the current situation, and find a more reliable and effective strategy to defeat the enemy.
Nowadays, the world is in turmoil, and heroes from all walks of life are rising up to compete for the Central Plains. Even if Xiang Yu is an outstanding person among them, if he really steps into Xianyang City and kills Fusu, the subsequent things will become more and more difficult.
The present Xiang Yu was defeated and fled to Hedong County. He is completely different from the Xiang Yu in history who initially had a strong foundation laid by his uncle Xiang Liang and had an army of 100,000 when he led his troops westward to Xianyang.
Moreover, the other rebel armies around were all salivating over the fat piece of meat in Xianyang. Although Xiang Yu had the assistance of top counselors like Fan Zeng, the rebel armies that emerged and grew stronger in the chaotic times at the end of the Qin Dynasty either had extraordinary talents as their leaders or had virtuous men and capable generals to assist them. Therefore, how could they not see the clues here?
If Xiang Yu rushed into Xianyang City rashly at this moment, he would most likely be besieged and killed by the righteous armies from all directions before he could successfully establish a strong enough prestige and recruit enough soldiers. In this way, Xiang Yu would be trapped in a desperate situation of being surrounded by enemies and isolated without help!
In the original history, Liu Bang was the first to conquer the strong city of Xianyang and became the focus of everyone's attention. Then Xiang Yu led the Chu army into Xianyang City, slaughtered a large number of old Qin people, and burned down the Afang Palace.
In the entire anti-Qin cause, Xiang Yu played a great role. Not only did he possess a powerful military force that no one could match, but he also made many outstanding achievements on the battlefield, which frightened the Qin army. The Chu army under his command was even more powerful and imposing, becoming the most powerful force among the various rebel forces. Therefore, facing such a strong Xiang Yu, many other rebel forces were naturally terrified and did not dare to act rashly. No one was willing to be the first to attack Xiang Yu. The enfeoffment of the princes at that time was not just stupidity,
Although the Chu army was strong, it could not be compared with hundreds of thousands of rebels. Enfeoffment of kings could guarantee his leadership position to the greatest extent while winning over a group and suppressing a group who had bad relations with him. All of this was part of his calculations. Xiang Yu's IQ was always online. His failure in history was not because he was stupid, but because of Xiang Yu's character and style of doing things, which was completely different from stupidity.
Although Xiang Yu was famous at that time, he only had 20,000 soldiers. Even if he successfully captured Xianyang, facing the continuous influx of the rebel army, it was obviously difficult to maintain the victory with such a small number of soldiers.
It is also foreseeable that in the development of the situation, those rebels with ulterior motives will certainly be eyeing Xiang Yu, and many of them will even want to get rid of him as soon as possible. After all, the supreme reputation of destroying the Qin Dynasty is too tempting, not to mention that all this is happening before their eyes, how can these people not be greedy? Therefore, they will definitely not sit idly by and watch Xiang Yu become bigger and stronger.
At this critical moment, the resourceful Fan Zeng proposed a brilliant plan to Xiang Yu. So, after arriving in Hedong County, Xiang Yu quickly contacted Wei Bao, the King of Wei, and jointly issued a call to destroy the Qin in the name of the two.
As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused an uproar among the rebels in various places. Soon, various forces responded and a large-scale coalition army came into being. This coalition army brought together heroes from all walks of life. Everyone was united and vowed to completely destroy the Qin Dynasty. Xiang Yu and Wei Bao also promised that after the success, the benefits would be distributed fairly and reasonably.
Initiated by the two men, a makeshift coalition army was quickly assembled in Hedong County. Among them, the 25,000 troops led by Xiang Yu, plus the presence of Xiang Yu, a fierce general, and Fan Zeng, a top strategist, although the number of people is not large, their strength should not be underestimated.
The King of Wei, Wei Bao, who was originally stationed in Hedong County, was even more powerful, commanding 50,000 troops, becoming the most powerful force among the various rebel forces. Wei Bao himself had a certain prestige, and coupled with the geographical convenience, Hedong County itself had a large population, making it very convenient to recruit manpower.
Not to be outdone, Zhao Wang Shen Yang, who came from Dongjun, led 15,000 elite soldiers to join the coalition. This team was swift and its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.
King Han Han Cheng led an army of 20,000 and rushed all the way from Yingchuan. Their strict military discipline added a lot of momentum to the entire coalition.
King Zhao Xie of Dai from Taiyuan also brought an army of 30,000 strong, which was well-equipped and well-trained.
Finally, there are the 20,000 troops led by King Tian Du of Qi. Although their number is relatively small, each of them is battle-hardened and brave.
A total of 160,000 troops gathered here. For a time, Hedong County was bustling with people and flags covered the sky. In the central army tent, all the princes gathered together. However, under the seemingly united appearance, there were actually undercurrents. Everyone had his own little calculations in mind. After all, in this situation where the princes united to conquer, who would not want to pay the least price and get the greatest benefit?
At this moment, everyone sat together in a solemn atmosphere, because it was time to discuss how to attack Xianyang. Although everyone said that they would work together to overthrow the tyrannical Qin, deep down in their hearts, weren't they all thinking about how to gain more benefits from this war?
"Everyone, since we are all gathered here, I still think it is too early to discuss how to distinguish the attack positions. How about we take down the pass first?"
As a landlord, Wei Bao was not polite and spoke first. The pass Wei Bao mentioned was actually the famous Tongguan in later generations. It was an important passage connecting Guanzhong and Guannei. Tongguan was a pass officially established in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At this time, it was still called a pass. Although it was not as exaggerated as Tongguan, it was still heavily guarded.
"Even Xianyang may not have many troops now. How can we not take it? In my opinion, our coalition forces can just attack directly in one go."
At this time, Zhao Xie did not waste any words and directly prepared to attack the pass. The 160,000 troops pressed forward.
"Haha, King Zhao is so arrogant. In this case, I think it would be better if King Zhao took the lead in the attack. I am willing to assist from the side!" At this time, King Qi Tian Du also started to speak on the side. Hearing this, Zhao Xie's face was obviously not very good.