Chapter 211 Cross Defense
Emperor Gong of Southern Wei was the last emperor of the Great Wei and the founding emperor of the Southern Wei.

He died of illness a few years after fleeing to Jiangdong. A few years after his son Emperor Huai ascended the throne, Jiangdong was conquered by Dayan and the Southern Wei Dynasty was destroyed.

After Emperor Gong of Wei fled to Jiangdong, he was left with only two sons: Emperor Huai Cao Long and Prince of Shu Cao An. Prince of Zhao Cao Qi was separated from him before crossing the river.

The descendants of Emperor Huai and King Shu died in the chaos of war after the fall of Southern Wei.

Therefore, this little girl from the Guo family is very likely the only bloodline of the Wei imperial family.

The question is, is this important?

If you think about it carefully, it's actually not that important. If Wei really had that kind of appeal, it wouldn't have perished.

But it doesn't mean that it has no value at all. Both the Eastern Wei and Western Wei claimed to be descendants of the Wei Dynasty. The Eastern Wei was the descendant of Cao Yu, the son of Emperor Wu. Cao Xuan of the Western Wei was directly the descendant of Emperor Wen.

It's not that this thing can be used to suppress blood, but if this identity is used well, it will be effective in calming people's hearts after the war.

However, trying to use the woman as a card to play is of no use in the confrontation between the two armies.

It is only useful when you achieve total victory or have an overwhelming advantage.

For example, Yang Jian's choice of Xiao as Guangshen's wife was a signal to the South. At that time, the North had an overwhelming national power advantage over the South.

Thinking of this, Li Yuanhui had some idea in his mind, so he decided to put it aside for now. If necessary, he would accept it with a smile.

Not to mention, she looks pretty likable.
When he came back to his senses, he was a little surprised to see Old Zhu, who looked a little lost. Then he remembered what happened just now and said, "Brother Zhu, do you have any military affairs? If you don't have anything, just do what you need to do, prepare well, and propose marriage first."

"Ah" Old Zhu was stunned immediately.

"What are you talking about? If you are short of savings, just tell me. This matter needs to be done beautifully. Don't be stingy."

"Oh oh oh, I understand. I'll do it now." Old Zhu was so excited that he was a little incoherent.

"What are you talking about? Don't get excited. Calm down first."

After a while, Lao Zhu came back to his senses, "Hey, General, please forgive me, I was too excited and lost my mind for a moment. I wanted to ask you for a batch of crossbows and arrows."

Li Yuanhui thought for a moment and said, "I remember Cao Fu said yesterday that there are more than a thousand crossbows in the palace. I will give them to you for the time being. This crossbow is very expensive. If it weren't for the urgent battle in Liyang, I would definitely take them all to Yuzhang."

Old Zhu nodded solemnly upon hearing this: "General, rest assured. As long as we are here, Jiangbei will not be lost."

Two days later, Zhu Yuanzhang led the vanguard of the army to Liyang.

Li Yuanhui led the four battalions of infantry, namely Zhonglei, Zhongjun, Wuwei and Hubu, and boarded a naval warship out of Ruxukou, went up the river and headed straight for Chaisang.

Although Li Yuanhui had instructed before leaving that Pengze could be temporarily abandoned if a large army approached, the entire army could be withdrawn to Chaisang for key defense.

Li Yigong, who was in charge of guarding Pengze, did the same. After seeing that all the beacon towers along the river were lit, he immediately led all his soldiers on board and set off for Chaisang.

The defender of Chaisang was Zhou Qiu.

He was the one who led his troops to join Li Yuanhui and other powerful people, second only to the Zhang family. He was named Yingyang Langjiang.

Zhou Qiu and his son Zhou Ao, as well as Li Yigong's brother Li Su, were all stationed in Xunyang on the other side of the river.

This was also specially designed by Li Yuanhui. It was not to make them guard against each other, but this arrangement was the most stable, because once Chaisang was attacked, Xunyang would find ways to provide assistance.

If the father and son of the Zhou family were on the south bank, and the brothers of the Li family were on the north bank, if Chaisang on the south bank was besieged at this time, they might lend a hand because of their past friendship, but they would definitely not do it if it would hurt their bones.

The same concerns apply in reverse.

The most reasonable arrangement is to place fathers and sons and brothers in the north and south respectively. Sometimes blood ties are more reliable than common interests.

Otherwise, how can there be a saying that brothers fight tigers together and fathers and sons fight in battle? One of the reasons why the Hunan Army was so powerful in later generations was that the army was full of relatives and fellow villagers.

When fighting, the one holding the shield in front may be your brother or uncle, the one shooting arrows in the back may be your brother-in-law or brother-in-law, the one holding the spear side by side with you may be your neighbors Zeng Laojiu and Li Laoba whom you have known since childhood, and the one standing in the back row may be your father or father-in-law. The one commanding you to fight is not an outsider.
In a team like this, when a family member is killed by the enemy during a war, will the remaining people think about running away, or will they think about beating the enemy to death to avenge their family member?

This is equivalent to a built-in buff. The more you fight, the harder it is to resolve the hatred with the opponent. If you don't completely defeat the opponent, this matter will definitely not be resolved.

In such a team, even if some people are afraid and timid, can they abandon all their relatives and run away?

Li Yuanhui used this idea to make such arrangements.

In fact, it was well arranged.

After successfully taking over Pengze City, Cao Yuanjing made some simple repairs and then ordered Murong Jing and Shen Shangfa to lead their naval and land forces to Chaisang to meet up and prepare for a siege.

Before Cao Yuanjing came, Murong Jing and Shen Shangfa had also paid attention to Chaisang and Pengze.

Murong Jing also once led more than 10,000 troops from Haihun, intending to recapture Chaisang by land.

As a result, they were all beaten back by Zhou Qiu's army.

As the current head of the Lujiang Zhou family, Zhou Qiu is very different from his Confucian general ancestor hundreds of years ago.

In terms of appearance, Zhou Qiu was eight feet tall, had a sturdy appearance, and was extremely strong. He was in his forties and was extremely brave.

He is a typical strong man.

However, when it comes to commanding troops, he does have some of the style of his ancestors.

Although he was in charge of guarding Chaisang, he had a total of 5,000 troops, 3,000 of whom were from his Zhou family, and the remaining 2,000 were from the Lujiang powerful.

When Murong Jing came to attack, he led his troops out of the city to fight. With only 3,000 troops, he defeated Murong Jing's more than 10,000 elite soldiers and forced them to flee in panic.

Zhou Qiu led the charge, holding a long-handled broadsword. His men were all his direct descendants who had been raised by him for many years. They were elite soldiers who were willing to risk their lives without any attempt to rebel. They followed the master of the family and charged forward to protect him.

After that battle, Murong Jing lost many soldiers and generals, with more than 2,000 killed. After that, he never thought of retaking Chaisang on his own.

Now that Cao Yuanjing personally led his army to attack Chaisang, Murong Jing naturally led his army to support him and provided a large amount of food and fodder in accordance with Cao Yuanjing's request to meet the needs of the army.

Shen Shangfa led a naval force of more than 10,000 people and 200 large and small boats to Pengze to join the forces.

On the Eastern Wei side, after observing the battle, Cao Yuanjing ordered the front general Li Xiong and the rear general Liu Changyan to lead more than 50,000 people to set up camp seven miles west of Chaisang City.

Due to the special terrain of Chaisang, the city can only be attacked from the west.

Chaisang is bordered by a large river in the north, with only a narrow strip of land in the east, and several small lakes such as Hewen Lake in the south. Although the narrow paths between the small lakes allow people to walk, it is obviously not suitable for setting up camps or deploying siege troops. Only the west is suitable for setting up camps.

Of course, Cao Yuanjing still arranged a battalion of troops to garrison at Hukou on the northern foot of Mount Lu in the east.

It is actually very difficult to attack a city where you can only attack one side.

The Eastern Wei army, with Cao Xuan personally leading the charge, besieged the city for more than a month. Finally, as reinforcements did not arrive in time, the defenders, frightened, opened the city gates and surrendered.

But what if the person stationed in Chaisang is a strong and powerful general?
Cao Yuanjing couldn't help but sigh: "It's difficult to break such a strong city by force."

As the direct planner of this battle, General Lu Gongren said: "Our army just needs to wait here and attack the enemy reinforcements. When there are no reinforcements from outside, the food and grass in the city will be exhausted sooner or later, and Chaisang will open the gates sooner or later. I just don't know if Li Yuanhui will personally lead his army to rescue."

Cao Yuanjing laughed and said, "If he comes, it will be just what I want! We must let this kid know how powerful we southerners are in naval warfare."

(End of this chapter)