Chapter 178: Holding a grudge
After the military food problem was solved, Cao Yuanjing also inspected the camp and rewarded each unit, which helped to boost the morale of the Wei army.

In the following days, the progress of filling was accelerated.

The Wei army, which had enough food, took less than three days to fill several trenches over a hundred feet wide under the arrows of the Yan army.

The Wei army lost thousands of men in just six days of trench-filling operations. Fortunately, these men were all miscellaneous soldiers, and they did not cause any serious damage to the Wei army.

On the seventh day, the Wei army began to attack the camp. The soldiers rushed to the filled camp, and what awaited them was the Yan army's infantry formations that were ready to fight, with spears thrust through the fence, and a rain of arrows flying like locusts.

After a day of fierce fighting, the Wei army retreated in panic, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses.

On the eighth day, the seventh day happened again. When they were retreating, they were ambushed by the Yan cavalry, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

On the ninth day, the simple catapult that was finally built caused some trouble to the Yan army, but it was only a little trouble. The attacking Wei army still suffered heavy casualties.

On the tenth day, the Wei army did not continue to attack the city.

After the two sides fought for more than ten days, the Wei army, which took the initiative to attack, suffered more than 10,000 casualties. Although most of them were miscellaneous soldiers, the morale of the army no longer supported continuing to fight.

On the warship parked on the north bank of the river, close to the Wei army's camp, a group of Wei army generals and the Wei emperor Cao Yuanjing sat together in the cabin, eating fish soup that had just been caught from the river.

The windows of the cabin of the tower ship are next to each other, and the view is excellent. You can see Ruxuwu and the Yan army camp not far away.

Cao Yuanjing picked up the fish soup and blew on it twice. The delicious fish soup now tasted like chewing wax in his mouth.

After drinking a bowl of rice, he put it on the table and stared at the big banner flying above Ruxuwu with his eyes as sharp as torches.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Although the situation is not favorable to us, we still have a chance to win. Do you remember what Mr. Zhang said about the Battle of Yiling between Liu Xuande and Lu Xun? At the beginning, Sun Wu was also at a disadvantage, but after a long period of stalemate, they still found a chance to win, and finally won. What about the Battle of Kunyang between Liu Guangwu and the Battle of Red Cliffs between Cao Mengde? That's true, right?"

Cao Yuanjing laughed out of anger when he heard this. He was quite speechless when he heard his trusted general Wang Xiongyan talking about the confusing battle examples. Because what he said was that the party that took the initiative to attack lost. And they were the party that took the initiative to attack.

"Okay, eat your fish soup."

I had no choice but to say this to him, looking at Ruxuwu in the distance in a daze, muttering to myself, "If we fight in the wild, will we have a chance of winning?"

"Of course there is. Since we started our army, we have never lost a battle with the Yan army. Moreover, our army has 300,000 soldiers, while the Yan army has only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers. We just rely on the advantage of the terrain. If we fight in the field, we will surely win."

General Miao Xianyun spoke with great vigor.

This is not because they are conceited. After Cao Yuanjing and others started the rebellion, they have been winning more battles than losing. After Murong Ying's death, they completely stirred up a wave and won battles again and again. The Yan army in Jiangdong had no rivals at all.

So much so that the generals of the Eastern Wei always felt that the Yan army was nothing special.

Now, this perception has not changed much.

Because in the past few days, except for the use of cavalry, the Yan army has never had a direct confrontation with the Eastern Wei army. They have been relying on solid barracks and city walls, as well as strong bows and crossbows to deter the attacking Eastern Wei army.

So they thought that if both sides fought in the field with infantry, they would definitely win.

Of course, the Yan army's cavalry was subconsciously excluded by them.
So, in the next few days, the Eastern Wei army began to take action.

First, he sent people to challenge the Yan army in front of the formation, asking them to come out and fight. Then he sent people to loudly insult Li Yuanhui, the commander of the Jianghuai Army.

After several days of turmoil, the Yan army soldiers were filled with righteous indignation, but the commander Li Yuanhui acted as if nothing had happened.

He was not affected at all, ate three meals a day as usual, rarely drank alcohol, and inspected defense as usual.

However, every time during an inspection, there were officers and soldiers asking when they could go out to drive all the Wei troops into the river.

Li Yuanhui simply said "the time has not come yet" or "I have my own ideas."

When entering and leaving the camp on weekdays, Li Yuanhui, as the commander-in-chief, rarely wore armor. He always wore a light fur coat and a loose belt, and his clothes were very casual, giving the soldiers a very relaxed feeling.

When he saw the soldiers during his daily inspections, he would often ask them whether they had enough to eat, whether they were warm enough, etc. The soldiers in the Jianghuai Army were also willing to fight to the death for this General Li.

So when they heard the Wei army shouting and cursing all day long, they were all eager to fight.

So much so that several camp leaders, including the guard Xiao Shizhi and the cavalry commander Liu Xuanji, felt that the morale of the troops was good enough to fight the enemy.

Li Yuanhui, however, remained silent.

"What is Shiro worried about?"

Cousin Dou Xianjun followed Li Yuanhui, walked on the city wall, looked at the Wei camp in the distance, and asked with some confusion.

The two sides fought for more than ten days. Although the Yan army had fewer soldiers, they always firmly guarded Ruxuwu and the main camp. The Wei army suffered continuous casualties and did not make any progress.

The morale and military spirit of both sides were rising and falling.

The Yan army's fighting spirit grew stronger and stronger, while the morale of the Wei army became increasingly low.

At this point, we can make a concerted effort to defeat the Wei army and win the battle.

Li Yuanhui never showed any intention of leaving the city to fight the enemy. Logically speaking, with his youthful mentality, he should not be able to tolerate such insults.

The normal style of the painting should be that the young and hot-tempered commander, because of the insults from the enemy, ignored the advice of his advisers and generals and forced himself into battle.
But now the style is that although the coach is young, he is not arrogant, and even too steady to be a young man. Instead, he suppressed the generals who asked for battle.
Li Yuanhui didn't answer him, but Li Qinglian beside him suddenly asked, "General Dou, what do you think of the outcome of a battle outside the city?"

Dou Xianjun frowned, thought for a while, and then said, "It's a three-seven situation. I have seven and the enemy has three."

Li Qinglian continued to ask: "What if our army does not take the initiative to fight, and the enemy can capture the camp?"

Dou Xianjun shook his head. "It should be impossible."

"We have more than 30,000 soldiers, and the enemy claims to have 300,000. Even if there is some misstatement, there should be about 200,000. The enemy has come from afar, and the food and grass needed by 200,000 soldiers every day need to be transported by water. Our army is on the defensive, and the expenditure required is eleven times that of the Wei army. We should not be the ones in a hurry."

Li Qinglian smiled easily.

Dou Xianjun had an expression of sudden enlightenment, but Li Yuanhui remained silent, standing on the battlements of the city wall and looking at the Wei army's warships on the river.

In his heart, he gave Li Qinglian a thumbs up, saying that she was a great mouthpiece. Then he asked, "Is there any news from Wankou and Wanxian?"

Military officer Xie Xun said, "No news yet, but no news should be good news. Wankou and Wanxian are heavily defended, and there are beacons along the way to warn and send messages. Even if the enemy invades, they will not be able to hold out for a few days."

"Order the beacons along the river to be on high alert. If anyone is careless, bring him to justice."

"promise."

Then Li Yuanhui looked at the Wei army camp not far away.

"The Wei army has been free these days. We need to find something for them to do. Let Zhu Deyu come to see me."

"promise."

A smile suddenly appeared on Li Yuanhui's face. In fact, he was quite vindictive.

You guys attacked me at night on the first night, and I didn't sleep well. These days you've been cursing me all day long.

Although I am not aggressive, I am thick-skinned and can withstand scolding, it doesn't mean that I don't hold grudges.

Come and don't go indecent.

(End of this chapter)