Chapter 212 Am I not as good as Liu Bei?
People in the north are good at riding and shooting, and people in the south are good at sailing.

This matter has long been concluded.

But the place of Huainan actually has an awkward position, neither north nor south.

The North thinks he is from the South, and the South thinks he is from the North.

When the North and the South were fighting, this place was almost the front line of the battlefield.

Therefore, the people in the area south of the Huai River and north of the Yangtze River have always been tough.

Here you can see the clever use of navy ships as well as the majesty of the cavalry.

There are people who can ride horses, and there are also many who can swim.

So there is an obvious problem with what Cao Yuanjing said: Li Yuanhui himself is not familiar with naval warfare.

But this doesn't mean that the Jianghuai people under his command are also ignorant.

What's more, there was Lu Qin, who joined Yang Su in destroying the Southern Wei. He also participated in large-scale naval battles like the one that destroyed the Southern Wei.

However, Lu Gongren also understood the meaning of Cao Yuanjing's words, which was to encourage the generals and soldiers of Eastern Wei.

After all, the Eastern Wei had not gained any advantage since the two sides started fighting. They were only beaten at Ruxukou.

Now when we talk about fighting with the Yan army in Jianghuai, the morale of the army is very worrying.

In the Battle of Chaisang, both sides basically had to rely on their navy to decide the outcome.

Chaisang is in the south of the Yangtze River, so if people from Xunyang in the north of the Yangtze River want to rescue them, they have to use naval forces to cross the river.

As long as it can be isolated from the river, Chaisang will be an isolated city and can be taken down sooner or later.

So now Cao Yuanjing only has one thing to worry about, that Li Yuanhui is hiding in the north, not saving Chaisang in the south of the Yangtze River, and even giving up Xunyang.

If this is the case, Cao Yuanjin would dare to predict that Li Yuanhui is not reliable.

Because people's hearts turned against you, your subordinates were surrounded, but you didn't rescue them? Who would want to follow such a boss?

If the military's morale is gone, wouldn't the three counties of Jianghuai be easy to capture?

Li Yuanhui naturally would not let him down and came just over ten days after he arrived in Yuzhang County.

In mid-June, Li Yuanhui, General Zhennan, Commander-in-Chief of Yangzhou Military Affairs, and Marquis of Ye County, led a large army of more than 30,000 soldiers and sailors to Xunyang.

The main battlefield for the battle between Jianghuai and Jiangdong shifted to the middle section of the Yangtze River between Chaisang and Xunyang.

At this time, the Eastern Wei still had the advantage in terms of military strength between the two sides.

The front general Li Xiong, the rear general Liu Changyan, the left general Lu Gongren, the right general Zhu Jun, the guard general Han Ling and the pacification general Wang Xiongyan each led an army. These six people led more than 10,000 elite soldiers.

King Cao Ben of Chu had an army of more than 20,000 men, Yuzhang Prefect and Duke of Yan Murong Jing had more than 7,000 men under his command, and Shen Shangfa also had more than 10,000 men under his command.

As emperor, Cao Yuanjing also had 8,000 personal troops.

A total of more than 100,000 people.

On the Jianghuai side, there were more than 6,000 people in Chaisang City, more than 14,000 people in Xunyang and Xinchun, and Li Yuanhui brought more than 30,000 people.

The ratio of military strength between the two sides is about two to one.

In terms of the number of large and small warships, the comparison in number and military strength between the two sides is actually not much different.

Even the Chaohu Navy had five five-toothed warships that could carry 800 people, but Jiangdong had only three of these large warships, and they were all captured from the Yan army after the army seized Jiangdong.

As for other types of warships of different sizes, Jiangdong had the upper hand, with their number probably more than twice that of Jianghuai.

However, after Li Yuanhui arrived in Xunyang, he did not immediately launch an attack on the Eastern Wei army to lift the siege of Chaisang.

Instead, he persuaded Li Su, Qiao Xiaojie and others: "Now that the Eastern Wei army has just arrived in Yuzhang, they are stationed in the west of Chaisang and Pengze. If we go to rescue Chaisang, the enemy will surely attack us in all directions. Therefore, if we want to rescue Chaisang, we must not be impatient. We must wait until the enemy's morale has worn off before we attack. Then we will have the chance of victory."

When Li Su and other Lujiang tyrants heard what Li Yuanhui said, they were no longer in a hurry to go to war.

First of all, Chaisang is a fortified city, and if one wants to attack it head-on, they can only attack from the west.

It is not easy to deploy troops in the other three directions.

There were more than 6,000 defenders in the field, with enough food to last half a year, not to mention the inexhaustible water supply from the river to the north.

There were also sufficient siege equipment. At the beginning of the year, in February or March, Li Yuanhui personally ordered the allocation after inspecting the defenses of various places. One hundred thousand arrows alone were replenished. At that time, Li Yuanhui attached much more importance to Chaisang than Xunyang.

Now it has been proven that the attention paid was not in vain, and there was no problem in the prediction. Chaisang has indeed become an important node in the game between the two sides.

Moreover, Li Yuanhui provided support about ten days after Cao Yuanjing arrived, which shows how much importance the commander-in-chief attached to this battlefield.

Various facts indicate that Chaisang will not be in any danger of being breached for at least a month.

There is nothing wrong with the strategy Li Yuanhui mentioned.

Therefore, all the generals calmed down and prepared to patiently fight with the Eastern Wei.

In Chaisang City, Zhou Qiu, Li Yigong, and the powerful Wu Mingche from the same county stood on the observation deck at the northwest foot of the city tower. From here, they could see the river above and on the other side, the Eastern Wei army camp to the west, and the Mufu Mountains behind it.

From this, Zhou Qiu thought of the current situation and suddenly felt that it was familiar. But he couldn't remember it. "Yigong, Mingche, do you two feel that the current situation of our army and the Eastern Wei army facing each other is familiar?"

Li Yigong smiled when he heard this. He was only in his twenties and was a junior in front of Zhou Qiu. He was also not older than Wu Mingche, so he did not rush to speak.

Wu Mingche, after thinking for a while, suddenly said in surprise: "I've got it, uncle, Yigong, the current situation is quite similar to the Yiling War between Shu Han and Dongwu. We are in Chaisang, just like Sun Huan defended Yiling Road in the past. As long as we defend Chaisang, the Wei army will be exhausted. The commander-in-chief will cross the river to attack and win a complete victory!"

Although Zhou Qiu was a military man, as a local tyrant, he had learned literature and military tactics. Although he was not proficient in the classics, he had read them roughly.

Classic battles such as the Battle of Yiling are even more well-known.

"So, if we just defend Chaisang, it will be a great achievement?"

"Of course. I'm just worried that the Eastern Wei army also has capable people who will fight against us," Li Yigong added.

Wu Mingche said with some worry: "It's a little early to say this now, but once the Grand Commander arrives in Jiangbei, I'm afraid he will be in a hurry to lift the siege of Chaisang and be tricked by the Eastern Wei army."

Li Yigong said, "Brother Wu, don't worry. The governor has always been prudent in deploying troops. He came to Chaisang in person after the New Year to inspect the defense and allocated 100,000 arrows. How could he not know the situation here? You don't think the governor is an ordinary playboy, do you?"

Wu Mingche immediately laughed and said, "I made a slip of the tongue. The governor is naturally calm and experienced in commanding troops. Hehe, I made a slip of the tongue. Just pretend you haven't heard of it."

Li Yigong said jokingly, "Brother Wu, it's not impossible for us to keep our mouths shut, but this."

Wu Mingche said, "Okay, I'll treat you guys to a drink tonight, how about that?"

"Just one meal?"

"How about three meals?"

"Okay, deal."

The Lujiang tyrants in the city also remain very optimistic about their current situation.

Some even associated this battle with the Battle of Yiling several hundred years ago. Of course, this was also for the purpose of boosting morale.

But at the same time, the current situation is somewhat similar to the battle that completely destroyed the Han Dynasty's life.

Apart from anything else, Cao Yuanjing himself is very similar to Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han.

Both are descendants of the imperial family, but their families have fallen on hard times. The only difference is that one weaves mats and sells shoes, while the other fishes and sells salt.

However, Cao Yuanjing's entrepreneurial journey was much smoother than that of Liu Xianzhu.

"The Battle of Yiling? There are indeed some similarities, but I, Cao, am a descendant of Wei Wu. I have been raising an army for several years and have occupied Jiangdong. How can I be inferior to Liu Bei?"

Cao Yuanjing said this after one of his generals made the same association as Wu Li and others in Chaisang City.

Then his general Wang Xiongyan said proudly: "Li Yuanhui of Jiangbei is a young boy who only knows how to hide and defend. I will capture him in this battle and make him hold the stirrup for your majesty!"

Cao Yuanjing and the generals all laughed when they heard this, "Hahahaha."

Although Cao Yuanjing felt that the goal proposed by his confidant was a bit pretentious, he still encouraged him.

"Okay, if you can capture Li Yuanhui alive, I will make you a Duke."

Then, the scope was expanded.

"Everyone, the same goes for you. Whoever captures Li Yuanhui alive will be made Duke!"

"The fiefdom is worth ten thousand households, and the family will inherit it without interruption!"

(End of this chapter)