202 BC, the first day of March.
puff--
Zi Huai pulled out his dagger from the neck of the man in front of him, and blood suddenly spurted out, splashing Zi Huai's face.
"General Bei Chu, Commander of the Southern Defense Line Wei Hao..." Zi Huai muttered to himself and pursed his lips.
The body lying on the ground in the dark night was none other than Wei Hao, the mainstay of Beichu who supported the entire southern defense line of Beichu.
"Sorry, Sister Ahua, this is... an order..."
Zi Huai gritted his teeth and disappeared.
This is an order from Liu Ji, and Zi Huai must do it.
This was his promise to Liu Ji, and it was also to repay Liu Ji for saving his life.
Zi Huai's mind was already a little abnormal, and he didn't even know what he was thinking.
He desperately wanted to return to live with Zijuan, but he couldn't convince himself to accept the existence of Zijuan's real "brother" Xiang An.
Coupled with the savior Liu Ji's ambition for the world, he is the sharpest knife in Liu Ji's hand, and it is impossible for Liu Ji not to use it.
Killing Wei Hao was not the first time this sword was unsheathed. Last year, Zi Huai had already killed many Western Chu generals, including Jiang Chun.
"Hurry up and finish it..."
"This kind of thing, I..."
Northern Chu is Zijuan's country.
The country that Zijuan devoted her emotions to.
"I don't want to do it..."
...
"Wei Hao... is dead." Xiang An said to Zijuan and Xiang Lu with his eyes full of clouds and his brows furrowed. "The person who was assassinated came to the military camp in the name of the envoy and carried out the assassination at night. .”
"Not only Wei Hao, but all the guards around him who were on guard were also dead. They were all killed with one knife. The wound was on the neck."
The atmosphere in the camp was extremely heavy.
Wei Hao is of great significance to Beichu, and its importance is no different than Xiang An's left arm.
Although the main offensive target of the Han Dynasty was Western Chu, the border between the three countries was extremely close, and frictions occurred frequently. The Han Dynasty never restrained its offensive intentions, and tens of thousands of soldiers gathered to stare at the southern defense line. Now the backbone of the southern defense line is the guard. Hao is dead. It is self-evident what will happen in the future if Xiang An does not deal with it in time.
"Wei Hao's body has been buried. The Guhui has issued an order to raise the alert on the southern defense line and let General Liang take up Wei Hao's position."
With a long sigh, Xiang An said in a deep voice.
Wei Hao and the people sitting in the tent were all good people. They were old friends who had rebelled with everyone during the Xiang Liang period. Now they are dead, but they can't even see their bodies. Everyone feels sincerely sad and heavy.
"Last year, I heard that there were assassins in Xichu, and many generals were killed, with high and low status. It should be the same person. Now it seems that General Wei..." Xiang Lu Shaked his head.
"We can't let this happen again. Now Han Xin has been pestering us. We can't do without the northern defense line." Zijuan rubbed her temples, "Although I feel a little reluctant to say this at this time, but... ..I hope big brother can help us attract more Liu Ji’s firepower.”
Xiang An lowered his head, remained silent, shook his head, and handed the written edict to Liao Ye.
"Go, prepare a fast horse and send it to General Liang Ning as soon as possible. The southern defense line cannot be without a commander."
"Yes!" Liao Ye agreed and quickly took his things out.
"...We have to deal with Han Xin as soon as possible." After a moment of silence, Xiang Lu shook his head.
"...His use of troops is really weird and impossible to guard against." Zijuan's tone contained a deep sense of powerlessness, "The king occasionally has to return to Linzi to deal with many affairs, but no one in Northern Chu can do it." Be a logistics talent..."
When Xiang An was there, Northern Chu was able to suppress Han Xin, and even ate up the entire land of Zhao and Wei last year. However, when Xiang An returned to deal with domestic affairs, Han Xin only took two months to fight back.
"Xi Chu..." Xiang An opened his mouth, but still did not skip the topic, "I guess Xi Chu won't be able to hold on for too long."
Xiang Lu and Zi Juan were both a little silent.
This is the biggest problem Beichu is facing right now.
Only the core of Xiang Yu's army still retains sufficient morale. The rest have long been worn down by the endless war and are like zombies. Generals have been assassinated repeatedly. Xiang Yu himself also went on a military rampage, killing some. His reputation in the army is not low, but the generals who disagree with him have led to the fact that Western Chu now has fewer talents than Northern Chu.
What's even more fatal is that Xi Chu's follow-up troops are almost completely unreplenished.
Nowadays, Northern Chu has 230,000 troops, Han has 350,000 troops, and Western Chu has less than 100,000 troops.
With two enemies facing each other, Xi Chu was at the end of its tether. As long as Liu Ji found a breakthrough, the whole of Xi Chu would collapse.
Liu Ji had been losing for so long just to prepare for this win.
And this win is not far away.
Once Western Chu falls, Northern Chu will face a full-scale attack by Han.
Without Han Xin, Xiang An was still somewhat confident that he could handle a full-scale attack by Han. A Han Xin who would never leave his monarch again would bring too much trouble to Xiang An.
His ability is not enough to destroy Bei Chu, but his ability can help Liu Ji hold off Bei Chu.
As for Xiang Yu, he never asked Xiang An for support or anything.
Xiang An somewhat understands Xiang Yu's thoughts, but... absolutely cannot agree with them.
"We have to find a way to support Xi Chu and at least attract some of Liu Ji's attention."
"But at this juncture, Wei Hao is dead..."
Xiang An sighed again. This was the first time Xiang An had sighed today.
...
Liang Ning became the head coach of the southern defense line and began the attack on Han under Xiang An's instructions.
The Han Dynasty obviously did not expect Xiang An's move, and was directly pushed to the south of the Huai River under Liang Ning's command.
Xiang An also began to encircle and suppress Han Xin again in Zhao Di in the north.
But Han Xin's next move surprised Xiang An.
He ran away.
He led the army in a large-scale retreat and gave Zhao Wei and other large tracts of land to Beichu, which Xiang An could no longer control.
While Xiang An was busy recovering the land of Zhao and Wei, another bad news came.
Liang Ning, the new general of Northern Chu's southern line and the coach of the southern defense line, is the same as his former coach Wei Hao——
was assassinated.
The assassination methods were exactly the same and were almost certainly the work of the same person.
At the same time, the main force of the Han army led by Liu Ji finally found the flaw in Xi Chu and shattered Xi Chu's defense line.
In just one month, Xichu's territory shrank sharply.
The troubled times have lasted long enough, and now——
It seems that someone is already trying to put an end to this chaotic world with no end in sight.
