Chapter 340: The decisive battle of the Yellow River
He Jin led 300,000 Han troops and quickly entered Xiaopingjin with confidence.
In He Jin's view, how could the Yellow Turbans, with less than 50,000 troops, be the opponent of his 300,000-strong army, let alone a head-on confrontation?
But God made a joke with He Jin and the big man, letting He Jin meet Xiang Yu, an opponent he could never defeat.
At the beginning, He Jin was also 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 the fighter planes now. 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 sent troops out of Xiaopingjin to fight Xiang Yu decisively.
Once the two sides fight, the fight is extremely fierce, especially the battle of generals is exciting.
In terms of generals, Xiang Yu's army includes Xiang Liang, Fang Jie, Wang Bodang, Liu Heitai, Wang Renze, Liu Zongmin, Guan Hai, Zhou Cang, Chu Feiyan and other generals, and of course Xiang Yu himself.
The lineup of the Han army was not much inferior, including Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Xia Hou Dun, Xia Hou 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 the battle, Xiang Yu finally went into battle 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, the five of them tried their best and could only draw 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.
However, Xiang Yu's ability to command the legion was revealed.
Xiang Yu, whose basic commander level is 95 (not yet at the peak), has reached an astonishing 99 with the increase of his skill Breaking the Army.
Xiang Yu, the commander-in-chief of 99, 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 both sides, and He Jin finally defeated Xiang Yu for the first time.
After the first time, there was also 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 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 to the bitter end.
He Jin only thought that Xiang Yu was struggling to his death, imitating the Marquis of Huaiyin to fight against the odds. This was undoubtedly ridiculous in He Jin's opinion.
In October of the third year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), Huaiyin Hou Han Xin led 10,000 newly recruited Han troops, crossed the Taihang Mountains, and headed east to attack Xiang Yu's vassal Zhao State.
King Zhao and General Chen Yu gathered 200,000 troops and occupied Jingxingkou, a strategic 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.
Zhao Jun's counselor Li Zuoche proposed a plan: defend the front without fighting, send troops to the back to cut off Han Xin's food route, and trap Han Xin to death 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 ambush behind the Zhao army's camp via the trail.
Han Xin warned: "During the battle, when the Zhao army sees that our army is defeated and flees, 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." p>
After the rest of the Han army ate some simple dry food, they immediately marched towards Jingxingkou.
When they arrived at Jingxingkou, the troops crossed the Naoman River and formed a formation with their backs to the water. When Zhao Jun saw him from a distance, they all laughed at Han Xin.
After daybreak, 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, Zhao Jun was defeated, Chen Yu died in the battle, and King Zhao was captured.
A last-ditch battle means being in a desperate situation and fighting to the death for a way out. It is a strategy of ‘being trapped in a place of death and then surviving, leaving a 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 is 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 show his arrogance?
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 leadership of Xiang Yu, the 30,000 cavalrymen formed a back-to-back formation and resolutely fought 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 marched straight into He Jin's main formation.
In order to stop Xiang Yu, the Han army formed 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 including Wu Zilan, Shi Ruisun, and Wang Zhong.
After this battle, of the 300,000 Han troops, only 50,000 remaining troops retreated to Xiaopingjin to defend themselves.
Behind this great victory, the Yellow Turbans themselves also suffered huge losses.
In addition to the deaths of local generals such as Yan Zheng, Han Zhong, and Bian Xi, many balanced characters were also injured.