Xiang Yu chose a route to attack Qin. He had first set out from Xutai and struck north at Zhang Han; that had now been accomplished. The next step was to head west, enter Tong Pass through Hangu Pass, and fight all the way to Xianyang. This was also the battle route Xiang Yu had originally arranged for Xiang An.
Liu Ji's route of attack, meanwhile, went from Xutai to Nanyang, then along Wu Pass Road toward Lantian.
While Xiang Yu's side was locked in a thunderous fight to the death, Liu Ji's side recruited another man he got along with exceptionally well.
His name was Li Yiji.
Like the late Wu Ju, Li Yiji was a persuader. Yet there was one crucial difference between them: experience.
Li Yiji was already past fifty, widely traveled and knowledgeable. His abilities were certainly far superior to Wu Ju's, and even Pang Ze, that half-baked fellow, was nowhere near Li Yiji's equal.
From that point onward, the way Liu Ji's group captured Qin cities became rather strange.
"The highest form of warfare is to attack strategy; next is to attack alliances; next is to attack armies; the lowest is to assault cities." An inscrutable smile rested on Li Yiji's face as he stroked his grizzled beard and looked at Liu Ji, seated at the head. "General, in my view, the worst possible choice in war is forcing an assault on a city."
"We still have many Qin passes to capture along the way. Are we supposed to fight through them one city at a time?"
"The quality of the Qin troops along Wu Pass Road is uneven to begin with. And because of the tyrannical Qin, those Qin generals have little will to resist left in them." Li Yiji narrowed his eyes. "As