Bang not only made Han Xin a general, but strikingly, he made him his General-In-Chief, promoting him above generals like Cao Shen, Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo and Guan Ying, competent generals who had served under Liu since his original rebellion against Qin in 209 (or since 208 in the case of Guan Ying). Han Xin soon urged Liu Bang to authorize an invasion of Guanzhong within a few months’ time. By conquering the Three Qins so quickly, they could capitalize on the fact that Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Yi had not ruled the region for very long. As Han Xin argued and predicted, the people of Guanzhong would welcome Liu Bang as their king as they despised Xiang Yu for his brutality, they hated the fact that the former Qin generals had defected to Xiang Yu, and they respected Liu Bang for the clemency shown when he had first entered Guanzhong. Moreover, Xiang Yu was distracted by a war with the State of Qi that was gradually increasing in intensity. Han Xin argued that they could then use Guanzhong as a food-rich base with which to rapidly seize territories in the Central Plain (Guanzhong had seen much less warfare on its soil compared with other parts of China). Liu Bang took Han Xin's advice. Zhang Han had manned the passes of the Qinling Mountains that divided Guanzhong from Hanzhong to the south, and so Han Xin began repairing Ziwu Road in the eastern part of the Qinling Mountains to give Zhang Han the false impression that the offensive would come from that direction. Campaign In August 206 Han Xin launched the invasion. In addition to repairing Ziwu Road, Han Xin had a skeleton force threaten Zhang Han from that quarter. He also sent Fan Kuai with a diversionary force along Qishan Road in the far-west, who defeated the Assistant Prefect of Xi County north of the Pai River. For these reasons, Zhang Han was enticed into concentrating his main forces around the northern ends of these passes. Meanwhile, Han Xin and Liu Bang marched their main force along the less-used Chencang Road, which was one of the paths located between the Qishan and Ziwu Roads, near the south-west of the Guanzhong Plain. His forces quickly took control of the counties of Xiabian and Gudao and overwhelmed the Yong garrison manning the Sanguan Pass. Supposedly, Han Xin ordered Cao