Chapter 379: Stalemate 02

  Fengxiang having been recovered, Liu Shanhe naturally had to hold a celebratory banquet for his soldiers. At the banquet, everyone drank with great relish, loudly boasting about the triumph of this battle, and amazingly, not a single soldier was lost, they just scared off Yong Chi without shedding any blood. The only pity was that they didn't capture that little Yong Chi alive.

  Several key figures, including Liu Shanhe, were holding their wine cups, drinking and discussing the battle of that day. Although those troops borrowed from Xiang Liang did not engage in a real battle, but only to make them look good, they had already scared away Yong Chi. However, the prestige of those troops borrowed from Xiang Liang left a deep impression on Liu Shanhe's generals. In comparison, other people's troops were truly well-equipped, with bright armor and sharp weapons, and their command was orderly and brave in battle.

  And Vice General Fan Kuai, at this time holding a wine cup in one hand and gesturing non-stop with the other, looked extremely excited: "I'm telling you, Third Brother, did you see that battle today? Haha, haha, it was truly magnificent! Hmm, those soldiers of Xiang Liang's were really formidable, really formidable! Just as we were about to attack the city, their eyes all turned red, looking just like a pack of wolves! The momentum, tsk, tsk, was truly formidable, truly formidable! They actually scared that little brat Yong Chi so much that he fled in disarray, haha... the battle hadn't even started yet and they'd already scared him off, what a ridiculous coward, what a ridiculous coward!"

  "Alas, when can we also have such a powerful army? If that's the case, then our strength would really be greatly increased!" Xia Houyan said with a sigh, taking a big gulp of wine.

  "Ah~~~ We can't be too hasty, you know. This mouthful is not enough to make a fat man, haha, haha! Anyway, no matter what, this Fengxiang has returned to my hands again! Come on, brothers, let's drink this cup of wine for the sake of changing Fengxiang into Feng County!" Liu Shanhe said with great enthusiasm.

  "Alright, alright! We've taken back Fengxiang and made it Feng County. Let's drink to that!" The crowd erupted in cheers and shouts, creating a lively atmosphere.

  And this changed Fengxiang into Fengxian County, which was also Xiang Yu's idea. In terms of administrative construction, Xiang Yu was naturally very clever. The reason for doing so is that on the one hand, after upgrading Fengxiang to Fengxian County, the administrative level of Fengxiang has been greatly improved from the administrative level, thereby setting a legal scale for improving the defense level. On the other hand, upgrading Fengxiang to Fengxian County was also highly praised for Liu Shanhe's place of origin. Especially about listening to others' opinions, Liu Shanhe naturally appreciated Xiang Yu's suggestion very much and adopted it immediately.

  Just as everyone was raising their cups to drink, Xiao He rushed in from outside, although his expression was hurried, but there was a smile on his face, apparently, he had come to report some good news.

  "My lord, my lord, General Xiang Liang has sent someone with a letter, saying that tomorrow morning you are to go to Xue County for a meeting, saying there is important business to discuss." After reporting the matter, Xiao He smiled and looked at Liu Shanhe, waiting for his instructions.

  Liu Bang heard Xiang Liang's invitation to go to Xue County the next day to discuss matters, and after thinking for a moment, he said to Xiao He: "Hmm, I understand. Ah, Brother Xiao He, this time we took back Fengxiang again, thanks to General Xiang Liang! No matter what, we must thank General Xiang Liang properly. Hmm, let's do this: you quickly prepare a generous gift, and when I go to Xue County tomorrow to meet General Xiang Liang, bring the gift along to express our gratitude!"

  "Xiao He obeyed!" Xiao He finished listening to Liu Bang's orders and turned around, about to leave. However, he was immediately stopped by Fan Kuai behind him. Fan Kuai grabbed Xiao He's collar and said: "I say, Old Xiao, today is a grand day! Ha ha ha ha, you're late, making us wait so long, it's been so bitter! Come on, have a drink first before leaving, having one drink won't make you late!"

  Everyone naturally knew Xiao He's position in this branch of the righteous army, it can be said that Xiao He was the second person in the righteous army except for Liu Bang. Although he had other official duties, on a special day like today, the second master naturally couldn't not drink. And just now Fan Kuai's one sentence reminded everyone, so almost everyone in the house picked up their wine cups and toasted to Xiao He.

  Xiao He originally had official business to attend to, but he was a sly person who was well-versed in interpersonal relationships. He knew that if he insisted on having no time for drinking, it would make the brothers who were trying to get close to him feel disrespected and affect his image in their eyes. Moreover, he had just seen Liu Shanhe raise his cup and gesture for him to drink with his peripheral vision. So Xiao He hesitated for a moment before saying: "No, no, no, really not! Alas, I really do have important business to attend to! If I get drunk and mess up our official duties, I won't be able to bear the responsibility! However..."

  Originally, when everyone heard Xiang Yu's words earlier, they thought that there might not be much fun anymore. After all, although everyone was willing to have a drink with Xiang Yu in spirit, as a way of congratulating him, they were also the leaders of their own troops and had many things to attend to. So originally, after hearing Xiang Yu's words earlier, everyone's enthusiasm had already cooled down, although they hadn't thought too much about it. However, putting down the wine cups that had been raised again still made them feel a bit uncomfortable.

  However, immediately after, they saw Xiang Yu's expression change and his tone of voice shift, so they knew that Xiang Yu's attitude had changed. Then they heard Xiang Yu continue to say: "Although it's like this, but today's cup of wine, I Xiang Yu still want to finish it! Come on, come on, I'll also toast everyone a cup, I'll also toast everyone a cup!" As he spoke, he took the cup of wine handed over by Fan Zeng and drank it all in one gulp.

  When Xiao He finished drinking the large bowl of wine, everyone in the house cheered and shouted with joy. For a time, the atmosphere of celebration was almost reached to its peak.

  As for Xiang Liang, he actually followed Xiang Liang's suggestion and invited the various lords to Xue County where he was located to discuss matters. It was not just because of his self-proclaimed king of Chu, but also a more important reason, that is, his recent new defeat.

  Originally, Xiang Liang was quite confident in his own righteous army's strength. On the one hand, after Chen Sheng's defeat and death, his righteous army had become the strongest among all the anti-Qin armies, which was undeniable. On the other hand, the power of his righteous army was not just empty talk, but was proven through actual battles. Over the years, Xiang Liang and his nephew's righteous army, since they rose up with 3,000 soldiers from Jiangdong, had fought in dozens of battles, big and small, and had basically never been defeated, while their military strength had expanded several dozen times. These achievements naturally made Xiang Liang proud of his righteous army's strength. Therefore, just a short while ago, he launched an attack on Zhang Han, hoping to rely on his own strength to destroy all the Qin troops at once, and thus overthrow the Qin dynasty in one fell swoop, and then seize the world. However, what he did not expect was that the Qin general Zhang Han's 200,000-strong army had such formidable fighting power, which made him hit a big nail.

  Perhaps Zhang Liang did not know that the troops led by Zhang Han were actually a group of desperate convicts who had been transferred from the tomb of Mount Li. These convicts had already lost all hope of survival, for they knew that once they were brought to this place to build the emperor's mausoleum, no one had ever come out alive since ancient times. So when they were later released and formed into a troop, they naturally felt that their prospects had changed dramatically.

  In addition, those who can become dead prisoners are mostly strong men, and when they really fight, they can defeat ten with one. Therefore, although at the beginning, the number of people in the royal guard team organized by Zhang Han was not many, there were less than 10,000 people, but because of his command, and the combat effectiveness of those who were drawn from Lishan was very strong, so they suddenly defeated Chen Sheng's troops that came to attack Xianyang City, and in the following days, Zhang Han took advantage of the victory to pursue and defeat several major victories. In this way, he stabilized the dangerous situation in Xianyang.

  Later, on the basis of that less-than-thousand-strong army, Zhang Han continued to expand. In addition, Qin Ershi finally discovered that his own world had reached a critical point, and Zhang Han was able to resist the rebel army, so he also gave the green light to Zhang Han in all aspects, thus accelerating the construction of this royalist army. In less than half a year, it had expanded into an army of over 200,000 people.

  But Xiang Liang himself later regretted it, regretting that he should not have been too aggressive and too light on the enemy, resulting in a big nail at Zhang He's place. Yes, since Xiang Liang raised the banner of righteousness, everything has gone smoothly, and every time he encountered an enemy, he won. This is because the Qin army he came into contact with were all troops with little combat power, especially under the circumstances where the righteous armies rose up in various places. Those Qin armies were deeply afraid of Xiang Liang's military might and scale, so in many cases, they didn't even fight back. However, after fighting like this for a long time, it would naturally make Xiang Liang somewhat complacent and light on the enemy, thinking that the so-called Qin army was nothing more than that.

  However, Xiang Liang's troops directly encountered the army led by Zhang Han, and only then did they truly feel the real combat power of the Qin army. The soldiers in Zhang Han's army were all exceptionally brave and fierce, each one capable of taking on ten men. As a result, Xiang Liang's rebel army was caught off guard and suffered a crushing defeat in their first battle, almost losing their fighting spirit. After the defeat, Xiang Liang couldn't help but reflect: it seemed that he had indeed underestimated the strength of this last branch of the Qin army. If they continued to fight head-on like this, his rebel army would surely suffer even greater losses.

  Suddenly, he had a change of heart and thought that the banner of resistance against Qin was not entirely borne by Xiang Liang himself. Nowadays, there are many righteous armies in the world, and although he cannot unite every single one of them, those with a certain scale should be united to form a strong force, working together to counterattack Zhang Han's troops. In this way, the possibility of winning would greatly increase. Moreover, he could also fully demonstrate his organizational talent in this round of joint military operations, gradually establishing his authority through continuous coordination of the vassals' battles. Hmm, this is indeed a good idea.

  It just so happened that Xiang Yu also proposed to gather all the vassals together to discuss his own establishment as King of Chu. This was a great opportunity for him to take advantage of this opportunity, not only to achieve his goal of establishing himself as King of Chu, but also to reach an agreement with all the vassals and form a united force to attack the Qin army.

  Three days later, in Xiang Liang's central army tent, various heroes and warriors arrived one after another, all gathering here. For a time, it was exceptionally lively. These people were all heroic figures from the grasslands, naturally not ordinary folk. Some had known each other before, and upon meeting, they naturally exchanged warm greetings, chatting noisily for a while. Others, although they had never met, upon seeing each other, asked each other's names, feeling as though they had met too late.

  Liu Shanhe was greeting those he had known before, when suddenly a robust man wearing armor appeared in front of him. With a voice as loud as a bell, he said to Liu Shanhe: "Ah, Liu Tingchang! Liu..." Having spoken halfway through the sentence, the man suddenly realized his mistake and immediately corrected himself: "Hahaha, look at my mouth, Lord Pei! Lord Pei, I pay my respects. Does Lord Pei still recognize me, Fu Bu?"

  "Zui Bu?" Liu Shanhe's mind suddenly turned, and then he couldn't help but think of the past when he was still the head of Si Shui Pavilion. He had escorted a group of prisoners to Xianyang's Rui Mountain to build a mausoleum for Qin Shi Huang. At that time, out of curiosity about the emperor's underground palace, he had bribed an official and turned around inside the mausoleum. As a result, he had met Zui Bu during this turn. At that time, his impression of Zui Bu was that he was extremely ferocious, with a face full of rough skin, eyes that looked like two bronze bells, giving people a fierce and intimidating feeling.

  At that time, Liu Shanhe was surrounded by several yamen runners he had brought with him last time - naturally also his fellow villagers from Pei County - and they were all asking Liu Shanhe about things in the outside world. It's worth noting that these people have been trapped here for years digging tombs for Qin Shi Huang, so they know very little about what's going on outside, almost completely cut off from the world. Now that they've seen Liu Shanhe again, they're naturally very affectionate, without any of the resentment they had when Liu Shanhe first brought them here.

  "Liu Tingchang, we've heard that Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning of books, saying that all the books in the world were burned. Is this really true?" one of the attendants asked.

  At this time, several other servants also gathered around and asked "Yes, yes, what's going on? Please tell us, Liu Tingchang! We're like isolated from the world here, we don't know anything about what's happening outside! We really don't know anything! It's not easy for Liu Tingchang to come see us, so please trouble him to tell us!"

  At this time, another official asked: "I also heard that now, among the people of the world, those who recognize a few characters will be buried alive! My god, if it's really like that, how many people will be buried! Will anyone dare to read and recognize characters in the future?"

  Liu Shanhe listened and felt it was necessary to clarify the matter to everyone, so he explained: "Oh, if you say that all literate people were buried alive, that's not the case. The real situation is that Li Si, who was in charge of the imperial court, disliked those bookworms for being too eloquent and talking about everything, with many rumors and gossip that were very disrespectful to the Qin dynasty, and even some people dared to speak ill of the emperor. As a result, Emperor Qin Shi Huang became enraged and later followed Li Si's suggestion, killing more than 640 Confucian scholars in Xianyang City!"

  "Good heavens! So many people buried alive at once! This is simply too brutal! Good heavens! So many people buried alive at once! This is simply too brutal!" Those fellow villagers of Liu Shanhe from Pei County were all discussing it. Just then, Liu Shanhe saw someone walking towards them. The man was stout and strong-looking. It was Tie Bu.

  Liu Shanhe saw that the beggar walked to a huge water-filled urn, then with one hand he lifted the urn and brought it to his mouth, tilting his head back to drink. Such strength left Liu Shanhe staring in amazement. Oh my god, there's actually someone in this world who drinks like this!