Chapter 239 Falling into the trap
In winter, the ground is firm and clean, making it the best season for cavalry to gallop in the Huaihe River and Yangtze River areas.

Because once spring comes and the flowers bloom, the roads become muddy and the cavalry's march may not be as fast as the infantry walking in straw sandals.

Li Yuanhui also had this plan in mind. The fire destroyed the military rations in the old city of Nandun. As a result, the Yan army needed to restock the rations, and even fell into a food shortage in the short term.

After all, it is basically difficult to mobilize any food and grass resources in Yuzhou, unless you ask the local tyrants for them.

But the daily food and fodder required by a force of more than 200,000 people was an astronomical figure. How could the powerful families in Yuzhou be willing to use their own food to fill the hole in the court? Such a huge hole?
If they want to levy the army by force, it is not impossible. After all, no powerful clan or wealthy family can resist such a force of more than 100,000 soldiers. But if they do so, they will still have to face a collective counterattack from all levels of Yuzhou.

This is exactly the effect Li Yuanhui wanted.

When spring comes and the flowers bloom and the ice and snow melt, whether it is Murong Deyu or Lou Jushi, they will have to cross the Huai River first if they want to conquer Jianghuai.

Water fight? Go ahead and try!

Most of the people in the court are from the north. When it comes to cavalry battles, infantry battles, sieges, or field battles in the suburbs, there are a large number of famous generals, great generals, fierce generals, and veteran generals.

But when it comes to naval warfare, the one who was best at it was General Gao Huang, the General of the Eastern Expedition. He once led his navy to capture the capital of Goguryeo by water. However, he had to retreat because of the failure in the Liaodong battlefield on land.

And now the Qingzhou navy under his command, which not only has experience in naval warfare but also in sea warfare, has been taken over by Wagang.

Apart from General Gao, it is really difficult to find a general who is good at such technical skills as naval warfare in the court of Dayan, not to mention that there must be enough warships and naval forces.

If the country is as strong as the previous emperor, there is no need to say more. No boats? Build them for me! If we can build dragon boats, how can we lack warships?
However, after several years of fragmentation and continuous wars, the area that Dayan can actually control is only a few states, and the national strength is naturally different from the old days. The huge fleet that the former emperor used to send to Yangzhou had been dismembered in the first year of Guangping because of excessive extravagance.

Now, let alone recruiting sailors and building warships, even the Chinese and foreign armies are struggling to maintain themselves.

The Jianghuai side had hit the snake at its most vulnerable part. After setting fire to the grain, Murong Deyu had even foreseen that it would be difficult to achieve success this time.

Therefore, he issued orders to the pursuing troops one after another, "We must encircle and destroy all the Jianghuai cavalry troops north of the Huai River!"

Li Yuanhui rode his horse at full speed, and he certainly had no intention of personally leading the attack on the ancient city of Nandun.

Logically speaking, given Chang Yanheng's ability limit, Li Yuanhui would not be worried even if he had an army of 100,000.

But then again, not everyone knew Chang Yanheng's ability. Especially since Wang Tong and Ma Deyi were both generals from the central army, it would be very difficult for them to be convinced if Chang Yanheng led them.

If Wang Tong and Ma Deyi were dissatisfied and pretended to obey but actually disobeyed during the battle, it would be a disaster.

So Li Yuanhui had no choice but to lead his troops north in person.

Now the mission is accomplished, the only thing left to do is to escape.

Chen Cai, a brave general of the Yan army, Cheng Zhijie and Qin Bogui of the Wagang army, Pu Gusu, the right Huben general, and Xue Qi, the left Longwu general, each led their elite cavalry to pursue the Jianghuai cavalry.

Fortunately, Li Yuanhui had already drawn up a retreat route and plan on the way here. There were complete plans for the battalions to alternately provide cover, where to block, where to set up an ambush, and where to wade across the ice to the east bank of the Yingshui River.

At noon on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Jianghuai cavalry had all moved to the east bank of the Yingshui River. They then blocked the river mouth on the east bank that was suitable for cavalry to cross the river, using axes and bones to break the ice.

When the Yan army was chasing from here, more than a dozen riders fell into the water due to ice cracks. Fortunately, the water was not deep near the shore, but the horses could not pass immediately, so they had to find another place to land.

However, General Zuo Longwu Xue Qi led his troops to the east bank of Yingshui River not far from Xiang County, only a few miles away from Jianghuai Army.

After the fierce battle, more than 1,200 of the 6,000 cavalrymen of the four battalions of the Jianghuai cavalry were killed. Among them, Wang Tong's troops suffered the heaviest losses because they blocked Chen Cai's troops, losing nearly 700 cavalrymen. The other troops also suffered losses, but still maintained their basic structure.

Li Yuanhui ordered Wang Tong's troops to join forces with the 600 cavalrymen he personally led to advance first, with Chang Yanheng's troops as the rear guard. They marched all the way to Shen County, and the pursuing troops behind them were already several miles away.

Luo Shixiang suggested that he lead his troops to replace Chang Yanheng's troops as the rear guard.

Li Yuanhui thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, and gave him some more instructions. Luo Shixiang took the order and led his 500 cavalrymen to turn their horses around. Ma Deyi and Liu Ju's troops crossed each other one after another. When Chang Yanheng, who was originally responsible for the rear guard, came, Luo Shixiang clasped his fists to him and said, "General Chang, go first. I am ordered by the governor to cover the rear." Chang Yanheng heard this, nodded slightly to him, and then led the team to quickly go south.

Firstly, this rearguard unit was a little tired after the rapid march and fighting, and since Li Yuanhui had already issued the military order, it had to be obeyed.

Luo Shixiang also nodded slightly, then stood in the middle of the road.

Half an hour later, when Xue Qi led his troops to arrive, he saw from afar that the Jianghuai Army did not continue to flee south, but stopped on the road.

Immediately order the entire army to stop.

The Jianghuai Army's behavior was very abnormal, which surprised Xue Qi. He was an old soldier, so seeing this situation, he couldn't help but feel worried.

Because Luo Shixiang's performance at this moment was very similar to Zhang Fei's blocking the bridge at Dangyang Bridge.

But Zhang Fei only had a few dozen cavalrymen, and he used the cavalry to drag branches to create smoke and dust to confuse Cao's army and make them unable to tell the real situation from the real situation.

Luo Shixiang's troops had more than 500 cavalrymen, and they were standing in the middle of the road. There was no ambush at all, and he did not order his soldiers to pull branches to create the illusion of smoke and dust. Some cavalrymen even dismounted to rest.

But such abnormality made Xue Qi suspicious and he did not dare to take it lightly.

Because when something goes wrong, there must be a monster.

If the cavalry in front of them was a bait, once Xue Qi led his army to attack, the surrounding Jianghuai troops would be ambushed everywhere, and they would be doomed.

So Xue Qi immediately sent soldiers to investigate.

After another half an hour, the scouts reported that there were no ambushes anywhere. During this time, Qin Bogui and Cheng Zhijie of the Wagang Army, Chen Cai, Murong Deyu's confidant, and even Pu Gusu, the Right Tiger General, all arrived with their troops.

Then Xue Qi sneered and said, "You are just playing tricks. Pass the order, all the troops follow me to attack."

Seeing this, Luo Shixiang realized that the plot had been exposed, and immediately followed Li Yuanhui's instructions and headed south quickly.

The two sides were only two or three miles apart and could be seen with the naked eye.

The various units of the Yan army gradually gathered into a large group, with a total of more than 10,000 cavalry.

Luo Shixiang's 500 cavalrymen fled all the way south. After finally entering Shen County, Luo Shixiang saw Li Yuanhui leading his personal guards and Wang Tong's troops from afar, and they directly raised their flags.

"General Li, the Military Governor of Yangzhou"

Upon seeing this, Luo Shixiang immediately led his troops back to the main camp, turned his horse around and stood side by side with Wang Tong's troops in the road.

When the vanguard of the Yan army saw the formation on the Jianghuai side, they all gasped.

After seeing this flag, their first thought was not why the other party was being mysterious again, but that Li Yuanhui actually led his troops personally to support them?

No one would have thought that Li Yuanhui was among the cavalry that attacked last night.

After all, people of Li Yuanhui's status and position rarely take risks themselves.

Afterwards, the sound of drums and trumpets could be heard from the flags in front.

Flags were waving back and forth, and smoke and dust were rising on both sides of the Yan army.

"No, I fell into a trap."

(End of this chapter)