Chapter 341: The Great Battle of the Yellow River
Chapter 341 The Battle of the Yellow River
Chapter 340: The Battle of the Yellow River
He Jin led 300,000 Han troops and quickly entered Xiaopingjin with full confidence.
In He Jin's view, with less than 50,000 troops in the Yellow Turbans, how could they be the opponent of his 300,000-strong army, let alone a head-on confrontation.
It's just that God made a joke with He Jin and the big man, letting He Jin meet Xiang Yu, an opponent he could never defeat.
At first, He Jin was skeptical about Xiang Yu's initiative to seek war.
After all, Xiang Yufang is at a disadvantage, so it would be too strange to take the initiative to fight at this time.
However, it would be a pity to give up like this when there is a fighting chance. Besides, the number of Han troops is more than six times that of Xiang Yu's troops.
In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks are useless.
With this idea in mind, He Jin decisively marched out of Xiaopingjin and came to fight Xiang Yu.
Once the two sides fight, the fight is extremely fierce, especially the battle of generals is extremely exciting.
In terms of generals, Xiang Yu’s army includes generals such as Xiang Liang, Fang Jie, Wang Bodang, Liu Heitai, Wang Renze, Liu Zongmin, Guan Hai, Zhou Cang, Chu Feiyan, and of course Xiang Yu himself.
The Han army's lineup was not much inferior, including Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, etc.
This fight was earth-shattering, with more than 20 generals fighting to the death, and its excitement was no less exciting than the battle at Hulao Pass.
Xiang Yu did not participate in the battle from the beginning, so the Yellow Turbans were at a disadvantage in the early stage.
After several generals died in battle, Xiang Yu finally went to war and turned the tide.
After quickly killing several Han generals, Xiang Yu was besieged by five men: Fan Kuai, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Yan Liang, Wen Chou.
However, even though the five of them tried their best, they could only draw a tie with Xiang Yu. If not for Xia Hou and Yan Wen's combined attack skills, they might have been killed by Xiang Yu.
He Jin saw that the situation was not good, so he commanded the army to press forward, and the two sides directly engaged in a decisive battle.
The Han army was not without capable men. Although He Jin delegated power to his subordinates, he was not the commander in chief, so there were flaws in his command.
But Xiang Yu's ability to command the legion was revealed.
Xiang Yu, whose basic commander level is 95 (not yet at the peak), reached an astonishing 99 with the increase of his skill Breaking the Army.
Xiang Yu, who had 99 in command, commanded less than 50,000 troops, but he blocked an army of 300,000 troops. This tactical command ability was something that few people in the world could compare with.
Later, Cao Cao came up with a plan, with Liu Ji (Liu Bang) Gongsun Zan sniping from the front, Yuan Shao and Sun Jian attacking from the left and right, and He Jin finally defeated Xiang Yu for the first time.
There was the first time, and there was the second and third time... However, although Xiang Yu was defeated one after another, he was defeated but not in chaos. He led his army to retreat to the Yellow River and escape while fighting.
After a series of great victories, He Jin became arrogant and arrogant, and no longer cautious.
On the other side, Xiang Yu suffered a series of major defeats and lost all his infantry. Only 30,000 cavalry were left in formation on the south bank of the Yellow River, determined to fight with all his strength.
He Jin only thought that this was Xiang Yu's death struggle, imitating the Marquis of Huaiyin to fight against the odds. This was undoubtedly ridiculous in He Jin's view.
In October of the third year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), Han Xin, the Marquis of Huaiyin, led 10,000 newly recruited Han troops, crossed the Taihang Mountains, and attacked Xiang Yu's vassal Zhao State eastward.
King Zhao and General Chen Yu gathered 200,000 troops and occupied Jingxingkou, a choke point east of the Taihang Mountains, preparing to fight.
To the west of Jingxingkou, there is a narrow road about a hundred miles long, with mountains on both sides. The road is narrow and Han Xin must pass through it. Li Zuoche, the counselor of the Zhao army, proposed a plan: defend the front without fighting, send troops to the back to cut off Han Xin's food road, and trap Han Xin in the narrow road of Jingxing.
Chen Yu refused to listen and said: "Han Xin only has a few thousand men and can attack thousands of miles away. If we avoid attacking, won't we make the princes laugh?"
After Han Xin found out the news, he quickly led the Han army into the Jingxing narrow road and set up camp thirty miles away from Jingxingkou.
In the middle of the night, Han Xin sent two thousand light cavalry, each carrying a Han army flag, to detour from the trail to the rear of the Zhao army's camp to ambush.
Han Xin warned: "During the battle, when the Zhao army sees our army being defeated and fleeing, they will definitely mobilize to chase our army. You rush into the Zhao army's camp, pull out the Zhao army's flag, and raise the Han army's red flag."
After the rest of the Han army ate some simple dry food, they immediately marched towards Jingxingkou.
At the entrance of Jingxing, the army crossed the Naoman River and formed a formation with their backs to the water. When the Zhao army saw it from a distance, they all laughed at Han Xin.
At dawn, Han Xin set up the general's flag and guard of honor, and led the crowd out of Jingxingkou.
Chen Yu led the elite light cavalry to swarm out to capture Han Xin alive.
Han Xin pretended to abandon his flag and drum and fled back to his position by the river.
Chen Yu ordered the whole battalion of the Zhao army to attack and attack the Han army's position. Since there was no way to retreat, the Han army all fought bravely to take the lead.
The two sides fought for half a day, but Zhao Jun could not win. At this time, Zhao Jun wanted to retreat to the camp, but found that his camp was full of Han army flags, and the team was immediately in chaos.
Han Xin took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and the Zhao army was defeated. Chen Yu died in the battle, and King Zhao was captured.
A last-ditch battle is to fight to the death in a desperate situation to find a way to survive. It is a strategy of "being trapped in the place of death and then surviving, leaving the place of death and then surviving".
Han Xin used this method to defeat 200,000 Zhao troops with 10,000 Han troops, but not everyone was Han Xin.
He Jin believed that Xiang Yu had lost ten battles in a row and his army had lost all morale. Even if they lined up against the water, they would not be able to inspire morale, so he ignored the advice of Cao Cao, Sun Jian and others and insisted on defeating Xiang Yu head-on and capturing him alive.
But how did He Jin know that the reason why Xiang Yu lost sixteen battles in a row was just a strategy to lure the enemy deeper and make him arrogant.
Because of Qin Hao, Xiang Yu's plan was somewhat affected, so he could only take this risky approach and sacrificed nearly 20,000 troops as bait.
Under the command of Xiang Yu, the 30,000 cavalrymen formed a back-to-back formation and fought resolutely to the death with the 300,000 Han army.
This battle can definitely be said to be earth-shattering, its intensity exceeded everyone's imagination, and the water of the Yellow River, which never changes color, was dyed red.
In this battle, Xiang Yu led the Overlord Cavalry to defeat Gongsun Zan's white-horse Yi Cong head-on, and then drove straight forward to take He Jin's main formation.
In order to stop Xiang Yu, the Han army established ten lines of defense, but Xiang Yu still broke through.
When Xiang Yu rushed to He Jin a hundred meters away, He Jin finally broke down and fled, which ultimately led to the defeat of the Han army.
Xiang Yu pursued for nearly a hundred miles until he reached Xiaopingjin before withdrawing his troops. In the end, he killed 100,000 enemies, captured 150,000, and beheaded dozens of Han generals such as Wu Zilan, Shi Ruisun, and Wang Zhong.
After this battle, of the 300,000 Han troops, only 50,000 remaining troops retreated to Xiaopingjin and defended it.
Behind the great victory in this battle, the Yellow Turbans themselves also suffered huge losses.
In addition to the death of local generals such as Yan Zheng, Han Zhong, and Bian Xi, many balance characters were also damaged.
The make-up lesson is over and will be updated steadily in the future. There will be two updates today and the next chapter will be posted in the evening.
(End of this chapter)