Chapter 177: Corruption Leads to Mismanagement
As expected, after the defeat on the first day, the Eastern Wei army began to use multiple large-scale landings to divert the attention of the Yan army.

The Yan army followed military orders, defended their camp, and watched the Wei army land on a large scale.

Cao Yuanjing was very surprised to see this, because he did not see the cavalry of the Yan army, and it took him a while to react. The Yan army should have seen through their purpose, but even so, Cao Yuanjing and the Eastern Wei army were still very worried, and the cavalry of the Yan army suddenly rushed towards them and drove them into the river.

So the first step after they landed was not to gather together to attack the Yan army's camp, but to extend inland from the shore, dig deep pits and trenches, and directly set up chevaux de frise with the wooden stakes transported from the south bank to prevent the Yan army's cavalry from making a surprise attack.

In fact, among the five cavalry battalions of the Yan army, four battalions were ordered by Li Yuanhui to move to the direction of Ruxu Mountain and set up camp early in the morning. They were not currently on the Ruxukou battlefield.

Only Li Yuanhui of Chang Yanheng's Huaiyuan Camp remained in Ruxuwu to garrison in case of emergency.

The Wei army did not expect that the landing would be so smooth that day. The Yan army's cavalry did not go out, so they quickly set up camp along the river.

The nearest camp to the Yan army was only a few miles away, while the farthest was more than ten or twenty miles away.

The original intention was to allow the Yan army to launch a surprise attack by dispersing their landings and setting up camps in various places. It was not until after the camps were built that Cao Yuanjing discovered the problem.

That is, the camps are not connected and cannot respond to each other, and the closest one is several miles away.

The main reason was that they had never thought it would be so easy. Their initial plan was to set up camp under the pressure of the Yan cavalry, so they asked all units to quickly dig trenches and set up chevaux de frise facilities in advance.

The preparation was that even if a few landing places were driven down the river by the Yan army, more places could still take advantage of the time when friendly forces were driven away to complete the defense arrangements against the cavalry.

However, they did not expect that the Yan cavalry did not go out, and the landing and camping sites of various units could not correspond to each other.

However, the matter is now done, and we cannot allow the various units to abandon their already arranged defensive positions and move closer to each other.

In fact, because they are backed by a big river, they can still connect with each other by water and provide support.

During this period, the Yan army did not send a single soldier to stop the Wei army.

So on the second day after landing, the Wei army began to leave the camp and assemble on the north bank.

They then began to form a battle array and marched towards Yanyue City and the allied camp where the Yan army was located, and began to attack Yanyue City and the Yan army camps on both sides of the Rushu River.

The first step, naturally, is to carry soil to fill the trench.

Countless Wei soldiers began to carry soil in baskets with wooden shields and transported them to the ditch in front of the Yan army camp.

This process is full of dangers.

Before the war, each battalion of the Yan army was equipped with a large number of bows and crossbows. After learning about the armor rate of the Eastern Wei army, they also made a large number of low-cost bamboo arrows.

These bamboo arrows are made in a very simple way and have no feathers. Their accuracy, range and lethality are inferior to standard arrows.

But it was good in one respect: it was cheap. And for the unarmored Wei soldiers, a distance of more than ten steps was enough to kill them.

Some bamboo arrows could not even cause fatal injuries after hitting at close range, but they would make the Wei soldiers who were hit by the arrows lose their ability to move and lie on the ground screaming.

This tragic situation was a huge blow to the morale of the Wei army soldiers. Many soldiers were timid and dared not move forward when filling the soil.

As a result, the trench filling process, which was already slow, became even more delayed.

As for Yanyue City, Li Yuanhui's Central Army, Central Fort, and Tiger Infantry Battalions were equipped with a total of 3,000 powerful crossbows, and even dozens of catapults were set up in the city. Of course, when the Wei army was filling the trenches, these were not used. The arrows shot by the archers alone were enough to terrify the Wei army carrying soil.

After three days of filling the trench, the Wei army's generals realized that with this method, they would not be able to capture Ruxuwu and the riverside camps occupied by the Yan army until the beginning of next spring.

The officers and soldiers at all levels of the Wei army were also very angry. Finally, they ordered the supervision team to hold knives and urge the auxiliary soldiers of each unit to fill the trenches.

Faced with this dilemma, the Wei army almost mutinied, and the situation was finally settled after dozens of heads were chopped off.

But morale also became low.

Originally, the auxiliary troops and miscellaneous soldiers were all refugees, and the Eastern Wei lacked sufficient equipment and food to arm all of them.

Therefore, a combat method was formed in which elite troops were used to command miscellaneous troops.

The elite troops were naturally treated well, using the best weapons and wearing the best armor, while the miscellaneous soldiers could not even get enough food. In this case, the miscellaneous soldiers might not be without resentment, but it was not easy to get a bite of food in troubled times.

The continuous work of filling the earth and the arrows from the Yan army meant that at least hundreds or thousands of people died in front of them every day.

These miscellaneous soldiers who are in danger of losing their jobs every day, don't have enough food to eat, and face life-threatening situations will naturally become rebellious.

After all, the rebellion against the Yan court was originally for food.

Now in the Great Wei, how dare you not give us enough food and still ask us to work for you?
Although the incident was suppressed, it still came before the Emperor of Wei, Cao Yuanjing. After hearing about it, Emperor Cao ordered the Minister of Works Zhang Hongping to investigate without hesitation.

If you don’t check, you won’t know. If you check, you will be shocked.

It turned out that Chen Quan, the nephew of Emperor Cao and the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue who was in charge of the distribution and transportation of military rations, had embezzled money.

The military rations originally intended for the miscellaneous soldiers were withheld.

After all, in Chen Quan's view, these elite troops are the trusted and direct descendants of the emperor and the generals, so they naturally cannot be treated harshly.

You guys can't even get enough food to eat, so you should be grateful and work hard for those who give you food. Can you distribute food like the elite troops?

We can sell some of this grain secretly, so what? The emperor is our uncle.
So Chen Quan started, and at the beginning he reduced the quota of miscellaneous soldiers by 20%.

They say there is a food shortage.

At first, the soldiers really thought that it was good enough to have something to eat, so the less the better.

Who knew it would become more and more excessive, 20% became 30%, 30% became 40%, and by the critical moment of the Battle of Ruxukou, the daily rations directly became 50%.

How can this not cause trouble?

Emperor Cao Yuanjing and King of Chu Cao Cheng, his two uncles, took turns to plead with Zhang Hongping for mercy, but all their good words were useless.

"Your Majesty, do you still want to fight for the world?"

Zhang Hongping responded to Cao Yuanjing's words without saying anything. He then announced the charges in public, beheaded him, and personally took charge of the military rations.

Until the execution, Chen Quan still thought it was just a formality and his two uncles would definitely not ignore him.
A number of corrupt officials were executed, which calmed the military's morale and restored some of it.

In the Wei army tent, Cao Yuan sat quietly in the main seat, drinking wine, feeling depressed.

There was worry about the war not going well, as well as complex emotions caused by his nephew's corruption.

He knew Zhang Hongping was right, but he was his nephew after all, his own nephew. When he started the rebellion, he also needed the full support of his brother-in-law.

No one expected that Chen Quan was so bold and corrupt that he almost caused a mutiny among the soldiers.

The most important thing is that he was completely unaware of this.

But there was no news about this matter before? No one else knew about it? How is it possible?

The people around him knew about it, but due to Chen Quan's identity, it was difficult for them to report it. After all, he was his nephew.

However, he really didn't believe that Sikong Zhang Hongping didn't know about this. But Mr. Zhang, who used to tell him everything he knew, didn't even mention this to him this time. This was a big problem.
Thinking of this, Cao Yuanjing immediately understood the deep meaning of Zhang Hongping's actions. If before this incident, Zhang Hongping told him to pay attention to the people around him, corruption, dereliction of duty and other things.

Cao Yuanjing must have been just dealing with it verbally, but he didn't care in his heart and wouldn't take it seriously.

Because he has always been a casual person and kind to others, especially his old relatives and tribesmen.

But this time, it seems that the past leniency and indulgence have shaken the foundation of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. It almost caused a big mistake.

"Mr. Zhang has good intentions."

(End of this chapter)