Liu Bang still regretted somewhat that he had put Zhang Liang in Qi in the first place in order to keep a backhand.
Fan Kuai, had fallen into wine and meat.
Lu was not good at scheming, and now he was trapped by Zhao Lang with a county magistrate’s post, but there was no one around him who even had an idea.
He had led tens of thousands of people, but now this county magistrate was hardly enough to satisfy his ambition.
Liu Bang could not help but lament in his heart that
“Alas, can I, Liu Bang, only be a magistrate in this life?”
Thinking of this, Liu Bang could not help but say at this time that
“Fan Kuai, send a message to LuÒ to contact Zhang Liang and ask him to come to Xianyang!”
He must make plans early!
Pengcheng.
By now it had been ten days since the Great War.
The streets were at last a little more crowded, but the constant patrolling of the streets by the Qin army and the mottled signs of battle made it clear that a great battle had just been fought here.
A beggar, dressed in rags, was standing dumbly in front of the city gates, looking around at the Qin army and muttering.
“How can this place be full of Qin troops?”
“Where is the Chu army?”
The beggar was none other than Wei Yi, who had come all the way from Liaodong after escaping from the battlefield there and was supposed to have arrived long ago.
But who knew that midway, he had been robbed by bandits.
Everything was gone, but he didn’t give up!
Because he knew in his heart that once he reached the land of Chu, with his previous relationship with Xiang.
There would definitely be a good position.
With hope in his heart, he did not break down, but when he arrived at Pengcheng after all the hardships he had gone through.
Only to find that it had already been filled with Qin troops!
By this time the Qin army at the city gates had noticed him and came over, saying that
“Where are you a straggler from?”
Suddenly asked a question, the beggar’s heart tightened and he was a little speechless for a while.
He didn’t dare to reveal his identity, or else there would only be death!
Seeing the beggar’s appearance, Qin Jun frowned, but did not pursue the matter too much.
Now the stragglers, who had suffered a lot, this reaction was normal, and simply continued, saying
“If you are hungry, go to the west of the city, the walls there need to be repaired, there is money for work and food.”
“Just go there and rinse yourself off before you enter the city.”
“Disinfect… Well, disinfection before you can enter the city.”
“When you have some money, you can choose to continue working or resettle to the local area or go back to the countryside and farm, it’s all up to you.”
The Qin army began to dispose of the stragglers before them in accordance with the regulations issued by His Highness the Crown Prince himself not long ago.
It was just this disinfection or whatever that he didn’t quite understand yet.
Inevitably, there was some pause.
Just after finishing, this beggar in front of him was still all but unresponsive.
Qin Jun didn’t have too much patience at this time, he was originally a small soldier.
Every day, he had to deal with this kind of similar things, how could he have the time, to spend on a person?
At once, he said.
“The place of the city gates must not be left long!”
“That who.”
The Qin army waved towards the workers on the edge of the city walls, who were responsible for cleaning and disinfecting these stragglers, and then said that
“Bring the men over, clean them, and then put them to the west of the city, and give them two bites of food.”
“Get him back to his senses!”
Soon, someone came over and pulled the beggar to the side.
Without the slightest politeness, a bucket of water was poured over.
“Ah!”
Having been drenched with a bucket of water, Wei Yi only came back to his senses.
Thinking back to what Qin Jun had just said to him, he was a little confused for a while.
He had just made preparations to be beaten up.
For the soldiers of the world, whether Qin or Chu, were all like that.
It was only his fault that he was standing in the wrong place.
But why did the other side say those things to him?
It was then that he realised that it seemed that there were no stragglers or beggars to be seen in the whole vicinity of the city.
Even if there were sporadic ones, a Qin army quickly came forward to arrange them.
Soon he was simply cleaned of his filth, and the man who rinsed him off said at this point that
“Don’t stand still, follow me!”
And with that, he led him all the way in towards Pennsylvania, saying as he went.
“When we get to the west of the city, let you have two bowls of porridge first, to give you a reprieve.”
“You stragglers are lucky nowadays, for in these days, work is not only food but also wages.”
“To say the least, it is still our Great Qin’s Crown Prince who is benevolent and is the leader of our peasants after all.”
Wei Yi listened to the other party’s words and made his way into the city.
It became clear that there were still some signs of warfare within the city though.
But by and large it was all tidied up.
The whole city was permeated with a vibrancy he had never seen before.
Soon, having reached the western part of the city, it was then that the man said to a young man that
“Ah Liang, this man is a straggler who has only just come in, don’t arrange for work yet, give him two bowls of porridge to ease his mind.”
The young man nodded and said back.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be treated badly.”
The man, knowing Aryan’s nature, said with a smile that
“Aryan, your talent for this arrangement is well known to all.”
“It’s long overdue to join the army to fight for an origin.”
When he heard this, the young man just smiled.
The man didn’t say much, he had to go back and prepare his own business.
Only when the other man had left did the young man then say to the stragglers before him that
“You rest for a while, I’ll have someone send you some food and bring over a clean shirt.”
“After that you’ll be working here, well done… ”
Before the young man could finish his words, he saw the straggler suddenly rushing over towards him, with an excited shout on his lips that
“Zhang Liang! You are Zhang… Well!”
Hearing the other man call out his name, the young man’s eyes snapped shut, then leaned up and covered the other man’s mouth, forcing him to ask
“Who are you! How do you know me!”
Zhang Liang was now extremely shocked in his heart!
He had been left behind by Liu Bang to secretly prepare his men while the Qin and Chu armies, both sides, were confronting each other.
But who knew that the Qin army would take down the Chu army so quickly!
But as soon as he turned around, he became the head of Pengcheng leading the repair of the city walls.
This allowed him to spy on news and to pull in men at the same time.
But now, to have his name shouted out by a straggler!
He was thinking about whether he should just get the other man killed, as he had ways to deal with it anyway, when he heard the other man struggle and say
“Zhang Liang! It’s me! Wei Yi!”
Wei Yi!
Zhang Liang, of course, remembered and loosened his grip and looked carefully, although the other party was quite haggard, he could still recognise that it was indeed the other party.
“Wei Yi, how did you become like this, and how come you are here?”
Zhang Liang remembered that the other party was not a minister of Goguryeo?
Although Goguryeo was a small country, it wasn’t like this.
When he heard the question, Wei Yi could not help but cry out in grief.
“Zhang Liang! The lord of Goguryeo is gone!”
At this time, Wei Yi told Zhang Liang all about the battle in Liaodong.
“I also heard from the Goguryeo merchants not long ago that Goguryeo is now under the control of the Qin army!”
After hearing this, Zhang Liang was silent.
He certainly knew about Zhao Lang’s trip to Goguryeo.
But he also only thought that the other side had simply repelled Goguryeo.
But he did not expect that the other side had actually made it this far!
When they set out, they didn’t have many men and horses!
Wei Yi said quickly at this time that
“Zhang Liang, this is not the right place to stay for long, we’d better hurry and join Xiang!”
He had now met Zhang Liang and was perfectly capable of going to Xiang.
Hearing this, Zhang Liang, however, shook his head slowly and said that
“Xiang’s already finished.”
Saying this, Zhang Liang made the situation in Pengcheng clear.
After hearing this, Wei Yi froze, hesitated for a moment and said that
“Doesn’t Xiang still have so much territory? It should still be able to fight against the Qin army, right?”
“I haven’t even arrived yet, so how come Xiang’s can’t?”
Zhang Liang sighed at this point, he was here, so naturally he knew how sharp the Qin army’s setup was!
Just look inside Pengcheng, after the great battle, there were actually not too many starving people and stragglers, which was an extremely remarkable thing.
When he recruited his own men, almost everyone else accepted the Qin army’s placement, except for the Chu people who, like him, had a deep blood feud with the Qin army.
After all, not everyone would be tempted by such things.
The Qin army had left a lot of bloodshed in the Chu lands, too!
Only now, with the Confucianists holding the Confucian students in their hands and spreading the word around, Xiang Yu had been charged with regicide after his defeat.
The peasant family controlled the peasants at the bottom, and the powerful landowners, too, were clamped down on by several families together.
He knew that even if Xiang still had some back-up power.
It would only be able to linger on, without any possibility of turning over.
For it was only at this point that he could barely see how far ahead of his time Zhao Lang’s setup was!
Now, all the arrangements were connected into a net, trapping Xiang to death.
Zhang Liang quickly gathered his thoughts and said that
“However, you are right, this is no longer a place to stay for long.”
“Brother Wei Yi, if you are willing, you can come with us.”
Wei Yi asked.
“Where to?”
Zhang Liang looked in the direction of Xianyang at this time and returned that
“To Xianyang!”
“I will go and rendezvous with Pei Gong and then decide on the way to go.”
Wei Yi hesitated for a moment, but he had no other choice but to say that
“It’s fine.”
Zhang Liang nodded at once and was just about to say something when suddenly a group of Qin troops came out of the street and formed a line of protection.
Some Qin troops said to the workers around them that
“Take shelter at once.”
Zhang Liang’s face changed slightly and he took Wei Yi straight into his simple tent.
Soon, an extremely handsome young man, appeared before the
“Brother Long, what are you doing patrolling the city on your own with nothing to do now? Just let the people under you do it.”
Hu Hai looked at the cluttered surroundings and said with some disgust.
Zhao Lang didn’t know what he was thinking about at this time and was somewhat inattentive, hearing Hu Hai’s words, he just said casually that
“You are right, after that you will do the rounds on my behalf.”
Hu Hai froze for a moment and said back that
“Brother Long! I…”
Ignoring Hu Hai, Zhao Lang asked, at this point, to the slave on the side of
“How’s the situation ahead? Any news from Xiang Yu?”
After Pengcheng’s great victory, Meng Yi finally understood that no matter what, he could not hold Zhao Lang.
So he did something even more desperate and simply stopped him from going to the front, leaving him to adjust the internal affairs of Chu.
He naturally left it all to Chen Ping and Xiao He.
But it was not so easy for Xiang to take over Wu Zhong, which had been under his control for a long time.
A way must be found.
Nu thought about the information that had come from the spider web and the humble one in the past few days, and returned.
“Master, all of Xiang’s army is now retreating towards Wu Zhong, and Shangqing Meng and General Han are pursuing them, all is well.”
“Xiang Yu has also gotten word and is regrouping his soldiers.”
“It’s just that…”
Zhao Lang asked, looking at Nu
“Just what?”
Slave returned and said.
“It’s just that Xiang Yu’s disposition seems to have changed a lot.”
Zhao Lang frowned slightly at once, not caring too much, it was already very good that the other party had survived the explosion.
After ordering a bit more about other things, Zhao Lang then said that
“Alright, let’s go back to the camp first.”
After saying that, he turned around and left.
Only after Zhao Lang’s group had left, did Zhang Liang come out from the shadows, looked at the other party’s back, and said
“Wei Yi, first thing in the morning, we will leave here and go to Pei Gong!”
Wei Yi naturally nodded his head.
In a short while, Zhao Lang had returned to his camp.
Only when he returned, a figure had already approached him with extreme attentiveness and
“Brother Zhao, you’ve had a hard day patrolling the city today, come, come, I’ve had someone prepare wine and food.”
The person who came was naturally Xiang Bo.
Looking at the other party’s ingratiating look, Zhao Lang when his heart moved, smiled and said.
“Brother Xiang doesn’t need to be so formal, as soon as the battle here is over, we will return to Xianyang, Brother Xiang has taken great credit, he will definitely have a throne.”
Hearing these words, Xiang Bo directly shed tears and said.
“Brother Zhao’s benevolence and virtue are unparalleled, what can I, Xiang Bo, do?”
“I will serve Brother Zhao to the death in this life!”
Watching Xiang Bo take the opportunity to express his loyalty, Zhao Lang only said that
“This is what Brother Xiang deserves, here I’ll drink to you, only… I don’t want to talk about it.”
When Xiang Bo heard this, he would not let it go and asked, evenly
“What is troubling Brother Zhao!”
Zhao Lang squeezed out a smile and said that
“Nothing, nothing at all.”
Bo Xiang put his wine glass down straight away, his face was solemn, and he said
“Brother Zhao is not treating me as a brother!”
“I won’t drink this wine until you say so!”
Only then did Zhao Lang sighed once again and said that
“It’s just that, since Brother Xiang has asked, I can only say it straight.”
“Now that the two armies are fighting again, I’m afraid that both sides will suffer heavy casualties as the Duo’s heroes in the land of Wu Zhong.”
“Whether for my own sake or for the sake of Brother Xiang’s clan, I can’t bear it.”
“Alas, it would be best if someone could persuade for a while and reduce casualties.”
Hearing these words, Xiang Bo was slightly stunned, then patted his chest and said
“Brother Zhao, how could you forget about me! I’m already guilty of not being able to persuade Yu’er.”
“Now this opportunity, I won’t let it go!”
“Brother Zhao, don’t worry, I’ll take care of this! I will go and persuade that boy Xiang Zhuang to surrender first.”
Having said that, he ran off towards his tent.
Watching Xiang Bo’s back as he left, Hu Hai tsked twice and said with extreme admiration that
“Brother Long, you are really powerful, pretending to give him a throne, and then in a few words you tricked a core clan member of the Xiang Clan into speaking for us.”
“With him, the Xiang Clan’s commanding power will be reduced by at least half!”
Zhao Lang said blandly at this time.
“I’m not lying to him.”
“As long as he keeps my covenant with him as a brother, then he is my brother.”
“And the throne I will give him.”
Hearing these words, Hu Hai was a little tense and directly hugged Zhao Lang’s thigh, dryly howling
“Brother Lang, I am your own brother!”
Zhao Lang managed to pull away from the other party, then slowly exhaled and looked in the direction of Wu Zhong.
Now, all the conditions were in place.
It was time for this war to end.