Chapter 262 Crush
The direction of the Wei army's attack was that all the generals were urging Cao Yuanjing to withdraw his troops as soon as possible.

The Yan army was completely the opposite. Everyone urged Li Yuanhui to send troops as soon as possible.

Because for the Yan army, this was indeed a good opportunity to send troops.

But how cautious was Li Yuanhui? Even when the Wei army showed signs of preparing to withdraw, he did not rush to send troops.

This made Cao Yuanjing's preparations go to waste.

The Eastern Wei also planned to see if they could use the opportunity of retreating to lure the Yan army to take the initiative to attack, lure them into the Wei army's camp, launch an ambush, and then annihilate them.

However, the Wei army had even abandoned the outermost camp, and the Yan army did not take the initiative to attack.

Therefore, the generals of the Wei army concluded that the Yan army certainly did not want to fight anymore, so they should stop fighting and retreat as soon as possible.

But just when the Wei army began to board ships and return south, more than 40,000 of the 60,000-strong army had returned to the south bank.

The Yan army took action.

Li Yuanhui personally went out to lead the attack, and Zhu Deyu, Zhang Jian, Zhang Zhen'e, Chang Yanheng, Dou Fengjie, Dou Xianjun, Xu Qiande, Guo Xing, Xiahou Yuanhong, Yu Zhongheng and other generals followed the army to attack.

Zhu Deyu led Xu Qiande and Guo Xing as the vanguard to open the way for the entire army.

When the Wei army that was landing on the shore heard that the Yan army was coming to attack, they were a little panicked for a moment.

It would have been fine if the Yan army had never left the city, but they chose to leave the city when there were still more than 10,000 people left who had not boarded the ship, which made the Wei army panic.

If they had left the city earlier, the Yan army would have been faced with the Wei army's guard troops who were on high alert, and would have been able to avoid being attacked on the way to board the ship.

However, the Yan army did not respond at the beginning and showed no signs of sending troops, so even the part of the Wei army responsible for security and cover began to slack off.

This caused a certain amount of panic.

The rear guard general of the Wei army was General Liu Changyan, a brave and valiant general of the Wei army. When he saw the front of the Yan army was quickly breaking through the enemy lines, he immediately organized his troops into a battle array and temporarily formed a nondescript circular formation around the ferry for defense.

The Yan army dispatched 30,000 infantry and cavalry.

Leading the way were the Huainan Right Camp led by Xu Qiande and the Lujiang Right Camp led by Guo Xing. The two camps of 8,000 soldiers pulled out the remaining fences of the Wei army's camp and filled in the trenches along the way.

Behind the two camps were the Wuwei Army led by Li Yuanhui himself, as well as the Zhonglei Camp, Zhongjun Camp, Hubu Camp, Guangling Camp, and Jiangdu Camp.

Among them, the Zhonglei Camp and the Wuwei Army were responsible for guarding against the Wei army in Ruxu Fort.

The rest of the troops used their superior forces to half-encircle the more than 10,000 Wei troops coming out of the ferry, forming a fan-shaped formation.

It was obvious that the Yan army was waiting for this opportunity.

Emperor Cao Yuanjing of the Great Wei and his generals, who were watching the battle on a boat on the river, were at a loss as to what to do when they saw this scene.

The current situation is very dangerous for the Wei army on the shore who have not yet boarded the ship.

If there were no boats behind them for escape, the Wei army might wait to boost morale and fight a desperate battle in a place where they would surely die.

But if you can escape, then the problem arises.

Who will stay behind to cover the retreat? Who will escape?
Li Yuanhui ordered the camps to form a reverse crescent formation two miles away, and then advance slowly with spears and large shields.

Looking at the Yan army's formation that was like a wall advancing in front of them, while the gaps between the formations of various units of the Yan army were constantly shrinking, the psychological pressure on the Wei army was constantly increasing.

At this time, Wei army commander Liu Changyan was also constantly making arbitrary arrangements. Although the ship had already docked, he could not allow the soldiers behind to board the ship at will.

Once the soldiers behind start to board the ship, the soldiers in front will panic, and eventually an uncontrollable rout will occur.

So they could only hope that the front-line soldiers of the Wei army could withstand the attack of the Yan army.

The encirclement was shrinking little by little. Both sides gradually entered the range of the crossbows. Then both sides fired arrows with crossbows almost at the same time.

However, the Yan army still had some advantages in this regard, after all, they were the side with the advantage in numbers.

Arrows fell like rain, and many soldiers were hit by arrows due to lack of protective equipment. Some were directly nailed to the ground by several arrows, while others were shot in the arm but gritted their teeth and continued to move forward.

After continuous firing from powerful bows and crossbows, the heavy infantry of both sides finally came into close combat.

The two armies stabbed each other with their spears, advancing like a wall. The soldiers of the Yan army moved forward slowly, compressing the space of the Wei army bit by bit.

For a large military formation, sometimes if the front takes a step back, it is unknown how many steps the back will have to retreat.

The two sides have now begun to engage in close combat. The Yan army will definitely have the advantage in this head-on battle due to its numbers and equipment.

On the battlefield, the 30,000 Yan troops formed a frontal suppression against the more than 10,000 Wei troops who were standing with their backs to the water, with a strength ratio of three to one.

The Yan army was in an advantageous position, so their morale was naturally high and they marched forward courageously.

The Wei army was completely suppressed.

The Wei army is now faced with a choice: should they let the Wei army in the rear phalanx board the ships and cross the river to the south, or should they hope that the Wei army in the front can hold out?
No matter what choice they made, the Wei army would eventually face defeat, and the Wei army at the front had no choice.

Not even the Yan army in front had any.

The Yan army's attack was fierce. The heavy armored infantry in the front row kept stabbing forward with spears in their hands, while the sword and shield soldiers used their shoulders and bodies to push the large shields forward. Once a hole was made, they would stab forward with their spears, or they would rush in with blunt weapons such as wooden sticks and bone sticks from behind and smash around.

The Wei army also had well-trained elite soldiers. Although their armor rate was far less than that of the Yan army, they still fought desperately.

The densely packed soldiers of both sides were squeezed together, and every slight change in the huge formation, moving forward or backward, meant the loss of hundreds or thousands of lives.

The confrontation that lasted for several months finally led to this extremely intense war.

Li Yuanhui rode on his horse and found a high slope to stop and watch the battle. Beside him were Li Qinglian, Chang Yanheng, Li Xuandao, Wang Tong, Ma Deyi and others.

This scene, reflected in his eyes, only felt that the scene in front of him was familiar, as if it was somewhat similar to the fighting scene he had seen in a certain film and television drama.
Although cavalry were also brought out this time, Li Yuanhui intended to use the cavalry to consume and harass the enemy with such a dense formation.

Because it takes time for cavalry to fly kites, which consumes the opponent's physical strength, energy and attention. If you charge directly into the infantry formation, you are seeking death.

But this battle did not allow time for the cavalry to harass and engage in retreat.

The Wei army had many ships and could transport goods very quickly. The infantry could form a formation while retreating to buy time for the soldiers behind them.

Before your light cavalry could pull them back, they had already boarded the ship and ran away.

However, this all-round infantry suppression forced the Wei army to fight against the Yan army.

"The Wei army originally wanted to use baggage carts to form a formation to defend against our cavalry, but they didn't expect that our army would directly use infantry to encircle them. The general's use of troops is indeed unique."

The speaker was Wang Tong, the leader of the Yueqi Battalion. Li Yuanhui smiled when he heard such flattery. After all, everyone likes to hear good words.

But my mind is still clear.

The current situation was his choice, which was to use his advantages in terms of manpower, equipment, and number of armor to crush the enemy.

For this reason, Li Yuanhui deliberately chose to attack when there were still more than 10,000 people left on the other side. He did not want to defeat the majority with a small force.

The Wei army wants to retreat, they can.

But it is impossible to retreat with all your strength and integrity.

(End of this chapter)