Chapter 179 Poaching
Old Zhu entered Wucheng from the camp outside the city. After receiving Li Yuanhui's military order, he immediately returned to his own camp and called several captains.

The Huainan Right Camp had 3,000 men, a total of five divisions, with captains Tang Wu, Xu Da, Hua Ping, Wu Jin, and Hu Kuohai, all of whom were from the same hometown.

After they entered the tent, Zhu Yuanzhang got straight to the point and said, "I just went to see the governor and received a military order. The governor ordered my troops to take a small boat tonight and enter the Yangtze River to attack the Wei army camp."

When they heard this, they all looked excited. They all said, "General, please give your orders."

Old Zhu continued, "Since it's a night attack, it won't be hard to make too much noise, so each of you select 60 brothers who can see at night. Xu Da and Hua Ping will come with me, and you stay behind to look after the house, uncle."

After hearing this, everyone responded and left. They selected the elite soldiers who could see at night, a total of 300 people, and after a hearty meal, they immediately gathered in the camp to rest.

They waited until midnight before quietly gathering together, then boarded a small boat from the Rushu River and entered the Yangtze River.

They took a small boat along the river and came directly to the rear of the Wei army camp from the inside and launched a surprise attack.

The 300 soldiers of the Huainan Right Camp were all carefully selected elites. Under the leadership of Lao Zhu and Xu Da, they broke into the Wei army camp and caught the sleeping Wei army off guard.

These Wei troops were not elite and were not well trained in their daily lives. They were even more panicked when they were suddenly attacked. The tents in the camp were all on fire. Some soldiers were awakened by the thick smoke, but they would be killed by the Yan army outside the tent as soon as they struggled to escape.

Old Zhu held a spear in his hand, but the way he used it was no different from the sticks commonly used in the temple. People who were knocked down by his spear would have their bones and tendons broken or blood splattered on the spot.

Others such as Hua Ping, Tang Yun, Xu Da, Hu Kuohai and others also held weapons and fought bravely to be the first.

The team of three hundred people caused chaos in the camp of thousands of Wei troops, who fled in all directions.

Seeing this chaotic situation, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered his men to ring the gong. When the soldiers of the Huainan Right Camp heard it, they knew it was a signal to retreat, so they did not want to fight anymore and retreated to the river bank one after another, then left calmly.

After returning to the camp, only a dozen of the three hundred people were slightly injured.

In addition, more than a dozen large and small warships of the Wei army parked on the north bank of the Yangtze River were burned by Zhu and others.

After the battle, the number of casualties was counted, and there were only about 500. But the morale was greatly affected.

The survivors were still in shock, and this sentiment also spread to other camps that were not affected. Many people began to clamor for retreat.

As a result, the two sides began to fall into a stalemate, and Li Yuanhui's back-up plans also began to be launched one after another.

The war in Jianghuai came to an end.

In Hebei, the Turks withdrew their troops completely after the Battle of Chaohe, and the original plan for a battle at Julu was naturally scrapped.

After the crisis was resolved, the first person to be recruited was Qingzhou Mu Zhai Rang, who immediately led the Wagang Army to withdraw to Qingzhou south of the Yellow River.

General Li Shenfu returned to Luoyang with a group of generals, including the Governor of Jizhou Zhao Yi, the Governor of Yuzhou Fu Xiuzhi, the Governor of Xuzhou Pei Minzhi, the Governor of Jingzhou Murong Deyu, the General Du Liao Xue Shixiong and others.

The Turks were successfully driven out of Hebei. Although they failed to advance into Hedong and Bingzhou due to terrain problems, the victory in the Battle of Chaohe was dazzling enough.

Therefore, except for Wei Zhi, the governor of Youzhou, he was dismissed from his post because of the unfavorable war situation.

The rest of the people were rewarded.

Li Shenfu was removed from his post as General of the Western Expedition and was promoted to General of the Cavalry, and was given the title of Duke of Julu County. Zhao Yi was given the title of General of the Northern Defense and Duke of Xuchang County. Fu Xiuzhi was given the title of General of the Front, Pei Minzhi was given the title of General of the Right, Murong Deyu was given the title of General of the Western Expedition, and Xue Shixiong was given the title of General of the Northern Expedition and the Commander-in-Chief of Youzhou and the Liao army, and was given the title of Duke of Hedong County.

Pei Xingyan, the son of Pei Minzhi, was promoted to General of the Tiger Guards because of his meritorious service in battle.

Afterwards, the troops of Yuzhou, Xuzhou and Jingzhou were not ordered to return to their own states, but to remain in Luoyang and wait for the next order.

Xue Shixiong and Zhao Yi were of course deployed to stay in Youzhou and Jizhou. At this time, Hebei and Jizhou had just been ravaged by the Turks, so except for a few counties, they were in tatters and bandits were everywhere. Local areas naturally needed a large army to stay. The powerful people who made great contributions in this battle, such as the brothers Lu Yi and Lu Xiong, the father and son Su Yong and Su Zhenbian of Xiangguo, and Zhang Chengjin and Gao Shida, who were previously rebels, were all granted official positions.

Of course, although Zhang Chengjin and others received an imperial edict summoning them to Luoyang to be conferred titles, these people did not have the courage to come, fearing that the court would trick them into going there and then be captured and killed by others.

However, the Lu brothers, the Su father and son, and many powerful people brought their troops to Luoyang. Emperor Murong Chao personally met with all the generals in the palace and had a very pleasant conversation with them. He then decided to organize them into two armies, and named them Tianxiong and Tianwu respectively.

The Tianxiong Army was composed of powerful troops from Jizhou, with Su Yong as its commander. The Tianwu Army was composed of powerful troops from Youzhou, with Lu Yi as its commander. Each army had more than 10,000 elite soldiers.

These powerful people were naturally grateful to Murong Chao for receiving such generous treatment.

Murong Chao also gained the loyalty of two elite troops.

The right to speak has greatly increased.

This suggestion came from the newly appointed Secretary of the Central Secretariat Li Xiaoyan.

Later, Li Xiaoyan suggested to Murong Chao that the Youzhou cavalry, which had performed most outstandingly in the Battle of Chaohe, be transferred to the central army.

Murong Chao was naturally excited when he heard this, "I have Li Qing, just like Emperor Gaozu treated Ping and Liang."

Ping, Chen Ping.

Liang, Zhang Liang.

These are all famous strategists throughout the ages.

After Murong Chao issued the edict, General Xue Shixiong, who had not yet left the capital, broke into the palace to resign and quit his job.

After all, the Youzhou Tuqi were a powerful army in the world, and they were previously placed in Youzhou to guard against the Turks and Goguryeo.

But Murong Chao directly pulled General Xue to stand in front of the map, pointed at Chang'an in Guanzhong and said: "Youzhou has been recovered, but since I ascended the throne, I have not seen Chang'an, nor have I visited the tombs of Taizu and Emperor Wen to pay homage."

Murong Chao spoke with great sorrow and tears in his eyes.

Xue Shixiong was speechless after hearing this and immediately agreed to transfer the Youzhou cavalry into the central army, but he also raised some requests to Murong Chao.

The Youzhou cavalry company, including the three generals who commanded the troops, were transferred to the central army by the court. Youzhou also needed to rebuild a heavy armored cavalry to deter the barbarians and bandits.

Youzhou has no shortage of excellent soldiers, but it lacks good generals at the moment. The central army is now facing a battle against the rebels in Guanzhong and cannot transfer personnel. So it would not be excessive to transfer a few cavalry generals from other places, right?
After hearing this, Murong Chao thought about it and naturally said that this request was not excessive.

Who knew that General Xue already had a candidate and spoke up right away.

"General Liu Xuanji, although I am in Liaodong, I have heard of his heroic feat of driving away thousands of bandits alone. Now he is in Jianghuai, which is not a place for cavalry to use their skills. It is a waste of talent. Besides, he is originally from Zhuo County, Youzhou. I will transfer him to the Youzhou army and make him the governor of Yuyang and the commander of the cavalry. I hope the saint will grant me your approval."

When Murong Chao heard this, he was shocked. This must have been planned in advance, not just something he had been thinking about now.

However, if we transfer all the Youzhou cavalry, including the part under the command of Wei Zhi, the former governor of Youzhou, and the two parts under the command of Liaodong Protectorate, totaling more than 4,000 heavy armored cavalry, they only want one general. It would be unreasonable not to give him anything else.

I thought to myself, I will compensate Jianghuai in other ways when the time comes.
So, while Li Yuanhui was confronting the Eastern Wei army, he received an imperial edict of transfer from the court.

"What do you mean? You're poaching people and it's my fault?"

(End of this chapter)