In October, they bid farewell to King Xiong Xin of Chu, and Song Yi and Liu Bang respectively led their armies and set off. Song Yi traveled to Anyang (now Caoxian County, Shandong Province) and stationed the army on the spot to await orders. At this time, the straight-line distance between Anyang and Julu was less than 500 miles. The entire army made final preparations, and the soldiers believed that the moment of decisive battle was coming.
While waiting for rescue from his allies, King Zhao rested in Julu City shivering. Outside the city, Wang Li's 200,000 Qin troops were attacking day and night. Thanks to the Qin army's tradition of massacring the city, the defenders and civilians were united as one, and general Zhang Er took control in the middle, thus blocking the Qin army's fierce attacks again and again. The crumbling Julu City has always stood firm, giving Zhao Wangxie a glimmer of hope for survival.
General Zhang Er looked haggard and his eyes were red and bloodshot. He had not been able to sleep well for many days. Julu City can't hold on for long, Zhang Er knows this very well. He walked a few steps anxiously, then sent an envoy to see Chen Yu again, asking Chen Yu to rescue the giant deer quickly.
The envoy successfully met Chen Yu and was sent back by Chen Yu again. Chen Yu couldn't remember how many times Zhang Er sent people to urge him. He was also helpless. He knew that Julu was in danger, and he also wanted to save Zhang Er. However, the tens of thousands of men and horses in his hands were all the mob that had just been gathered together. He had no chance of winning against Wang Li. In his opinion, Zhang Er should not have made such an unrealistic request, and should not have asked him to jump in and die even though he knew it was a fire pit. Because they are brothers.
Yes, Zhang Er and Chen Yu, they were once brothers who shared life and death.
Zhang Er and Chen Yu were both from Daliang, Wei State. Zhang Er was once a disciple of Wei Gongzi Wuji. Who is Gongzi Wuji? Lord Xinling, one of the four princes of the Warring States Period, is as famous as Lord Mengchang of Qi, Tian Wen, Lord of Pingyuan of Zhao, and Lord Chunshen of Chu, Huang Xie. There is a famous incident in history "Xinling Lord stole a talisman to save Zhao", which was done by Gongzi Wuji.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, not everyone could be a retainer, and not just anyone could be a retainer of the Fourth Young Master of the Warring States Period. All require high-quality talents. Whether you are a rooster or a dog robber, or a man with both civil and military skills, you must have a certain skill. Zhang Er's ability to be a guest at Xinling's throne also reflects his talent.
However, not long after Zhang Er lived a good life under Lord Xinling, he ended up on the run because of some crime he committed. After escaping, Zhang Er fled from Daliang, the capital of Wei (now Kaifeng, Henan) to Waihuang (now northwest of Minquan, Shangqiu, Henan), and lived incognito.
It is said that there was a local richest man in Waihuang who had a beautiful daughter. The rich man married his daughter to a poor, incompetent boy. The rich man's daughter was dissatisfied with the marriage, so she simply ran away and went to her father's old retainer, asking the retainer to help find a better one. The retainer introduced Zhang Er ceremoniously and said, "If you want to find a good husband, it must be Zhang Er." After listening to the retainer, the rich man's daughter resolutely severed the relationship with her original husband and married Open your ears.
Zhang Er was still a desperado at this time, so naturally he was not unhappy. Having a rich man as your father-in-law and suddenly becoming the son-in-law of a rich family is also a kind of enjoyment!
With financial support from the woman's family, the fugitive Zhang Er suddenly became a prostitute and became a prostitute. Zhang Er, who worked as a retainer in the past, now raises his own retainers and is famous far and wide. How famous is Zhang Er? Liu Bang, who was idle in Peixian County, heard of Zhang Er's name and ran from today's Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province to Shangqiu, Henan Province to meet him. This shows what a famous figure Zhang Er was at that time.
Chen Yu was much younger than Zhang Er. He was also talented and well-known. Later, he was chosen as his son-in-law by a wealthy man. When Zhang Er was the county magistrate, Chen Yu came here because of his reputation and treated Zhang Er with the same respect as he treated his own father. The two have been together for a long time, and they cherish each other. They become brothers with different surnames. They don't want to be born in the same year, the same month and the same day, but they want to die in the same year, the same month and the same day.
After Qin Shihuang destroyed the Wei State, he heard about the names of Zhang Er and Chen Yu. He felt that such a disaster could not be left unchecked, and offered a reward of one thousand gold for Zhang Er and five hundred for Chen Yu. Ansheng's life was over, and the two brothers changed their names and ran to Chen County. People often say: The most dangerous place is the safest place. Zhang Er and Chen Yu probably understood this truth and became Li Zhengwei in Chen County. Li Zhengwei is a relatively humble official. Zhang Er and Chen Yu were often bullied by their superiors during their days as errands, but they never doubted their identities.
Finally, in the first year of Qin II (209 BC), Chen Sheng rebelled and occupied Chen County. Zhang Er and Chen Yu's hard life was finally over, so they hurriedly went to seek refuge. Chen Sheng had also heard about these two people for a long time - he had seen them in the sea fishing notices and immediately kept them. It was at this time that Zhang Er and Chen Yu advised Chen Sheng not to proclaim himself king, but Chen Sheng did not listen.
Seeing that their suggestions were not adopted, Zhang Er and Chen Yu concluded that Chen Sheng would not last long and decided to go out to avoid trouble. Therefore, Chen Yu made another plan to Chen Sheng, suggesting that while Chen Sheng was attacking Xianyang, he and Zhang Er could lead a group of troops to seize Zhao's homeland north of the Yellow River. Chen Sheng agreed, but he was cautious and arranged for his trusted general Wu Chen to be the general, Shao Sao to be the guard, and Zhang Er and Chen Yu to be the left and right captains respectively to prevent the two from having different intentions. Zhang Er and Chen Yu felt resentful in their hearts: We were the ones who came up with the plan, yet we were actually asked to attack others, and we were only district captains. This was too bullying!
Hate is hate, but people have to bow their heads under the low eaves. Under the leadership of Wu Chen, Zhang Er, Chen Yu and others led 3,000 northern troops to advance into Hebei. As soon as he crossed the Yellow River, Chen Yu came into play and summoned the heroes from nearby counties together and invited the military minister to give a speech. These heroes were originally treasonous, and they all agreed to join under the instigation of Wu Chen. As a result, Wu Chen's army quickly expanded to tens of thousands like a snowball.
With tens of thousands of horses and horses, the military officials marched to ten cities and slaughtered all the officials. Of course, they are all small cities, and none of the big cities were captured. The military minister who repeatedly encountered obstacles in front of the big city went to Fanyang (about the north of today's Beijing and Baoding, Hebei) with straight eyebrows and eyes. The enemy army was about to approach the city. Fan Yang had a counselor named Kuai (kuǎi) named Tong (originally named Kuai Che, but later changed his name to Kuai Tong to avoid the name taboo of Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In later generations, he was one of the ancestors of the Kuai family in Jingzhou during the Three Kingdoms period. The origin and origin of the surname Kuai It first came from the Shang Dynasty. It was named after the country. The ancestor of the surname was Kuai De, a senior official of the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period. The surname Kuai currently ranks 395th among the 100 surnames.) He went to see Fan Yang and ordered Chen to discuss the interests and finally persuaded Fan Yang. The order decided to surrender the whole city. Then, Kuai Tong went to see the military official with Fan Yangling's letter asking for surrender, and with a sharp tongue, he offered the military official a clever plan to defeat the enemy without fighting, so that the military official not only accepted Fan Yangling's request to surrender, but also offered him a clever plan to defeat the enemy without fighting. Moreover, Fan Yangling was given many rewards and allowed to travel around in fancy clothes and luxury cars. In this way, when various places saw that the surrenderers were treated so well, they rushed to surrender. Without spending a single soldier, the military officials captured thirty cities.
In this way, Wu Chen reached Handan without any effort. At this time, two pieces of news came from Chen County: the loyal Ge Ying was killed because he offended Chen Sheng by privately supporting Xiang Qiang; Zhou Zhang, the leader of the Chu army's western expedition, was defeated and committed suicide.
Zhang Er and Chen Yu looked at each other, thinking in their minds: The opportunity to avenge Chen Sheng's humiliation has finally come! The two men immediately met with the military officials and persuaded them: "King Chen revolted under the banner of the Chu State. Now he has called himself the King of Chu. It seems that he has no intention of making a descendant of the Six Kingdoms king. General, you only have three thousand soldiers." Ma has captured more than thirty cities in Zhao's hometown, and controls a place as big as Hebei alone. If you don't become the king, I'm afraid you won't be able to suppress the situation. Besides, King Chen likes to listen to slander. If someone is jealous of the wise and capable, it will be in his ears. If you say bad things about you, you may be killed if you don't call yourself the king. If you are really unwilling to stand on your own, you can make King Chen's confidant king, or make King Zhao's descendant king. Time waits for us not to miss the opportunity. General Don’t miss this great opportunity.”
Zhang Er and Chen Yu's words moved Wu Chen's heart. He felt that since he had secured such a large territory for Chen Sheng, it would not be too much to call him a king. Therefore, the military minister immediately proclaimed himself King of Zhao, made Chen Yu the general, Zhang Er the prime minister on the right, and Shao Sao the prime minister on the left.
When Chen Sheng heard that Wu Chen had proclaimed himself king, he was furious at first, but later decided to endure his anger and solve Zhang Han's urgent need first. So he sent an envoy to congratulate him, formally recognized the military official as the king of Zhao, and ordered the military official to quickly send troops westward to attack Qin.
Chen Sheng's little plan was clearly seen by Zhang Er and Chen Yu. They urged the military officials not to be deceived by Chen Sheng's hypocrisy. It was better to expedition north rather than to the west. They should first capture Dai County (today's Yu County, Hebei Province), the hometown of Yan State, and then take Hanoi (today's Wuzhi County, Henan Province) to the south, and expand The territory is protected by the natural moat of the Yellow River. The military officials listened to Zhang Er and Chen Yu's advice and immediately sent General Han Guang to attack Dai County, General Li Liang to attack Changshan (now Zhengding County, Hebei Province), and General Zhang Xiao to attack Shangdang (now Changzi County, Shanxi Province).
General Han Guang entered the homeland of the Yan Kingdom and achieved brilliant results. With the support of the Yan people, he actually established himself as the king of Yan and fought against the military officials. General Li Liang's battle was also very smooth, and he did his job well and did not dare to make any mistakes. However, unexpectedly, Li Liang encountered a guard of honor with a hundred people on his way back to Handan City. He thought it was a military official returning from a trip or a banquet, so he immediately knelt down and saluted. When the honor guard approached, Li Liang discovered that the person sitting in the car was Wu Chen's sister. The eldest sister had just attended the banquet and was very drunk. She didn't know who was kneeling next to her, so she sent an entourage to say a few words and left on her own.
Scholars can be killed, but not humiliated, Li Liang thought, I knelt down wrongly and blamed myself for my misfortune, but you are a woman, don't you know your identity? He actually accepted the worship calmly and didn’t take me seriously! Where do you put me? Li Liang was angry, and his confidants were even more angry. The general was so belittled by a woman, and their subordinates had no status, so they all expressed their dissatisfaction. Li Liang's anger was inflamed by the crowd, and he immediately sent people to kill Wu Chen's sister. He led his army to surprise Handan, and killed Zhao Wang Wu Chen and Zuo Prime Minister Shao Sao with his sword. Zhang Er and Chen Yu were well-informed and escaped from the city in time and survived.
After regrouping and gathering the remaining troops, Zhang Er and Chen Yu gathered more than 50,000 people to prepare for a counterattack against Li Liang. In order to better unite the soldiers and seize the moral high ground, the two found a person who was said to be the queen of King Zhao, established him as King Zhao, and made Xindu (today's Xingtai City, Hebei Province) their capital. This King Zhao is King Zhao Xie.
Before Zhang Er and Chen Yu could send troops, Li Liang attacked recklessly. As a result, Li Liang was defeated miserably. He was chased by Chen Yu and Zhang Er and surrendered to Zhang Han. Zhang Er and Chen Yu took advantage of the situation to put down Zhao. country. But not long after, Zhang Han led Wang Li to kill him, and the previous scene happened.
What a rough life it is!
