Chapter 276 Impeccable
In terms of the commander's experience in fighting the enemy, command ability, troop composition, technical and tactical skills, and even the number of troops, they were not at an advantage.

In this situation, the one who wanted to engage in a strategic decisive battle with the enemy was undoubtedly Zhao Kuo in the Battle of Changping.

Zhao Kuo took the initiative to go to war because Zhao State had run out of food and could no longer afford to waste its national strength. Either fight hard or be dragged to death.

But Li Yuanhui had no such concerns.

In recent years, the Jianghuai area has basically been conducting defensive operations, and even if it sends troops, they are all for quick victory.

Therefore, the consumption of food and fodder was very small, and the military and civilian settlements in Jianghuai had a lot of surpluses year after year.

Hefei and Shouchun both stockpiled millions of shi of grain.

Apart from this, Li Yuanhui never asked the Zhang family for anything. His purpose was to wait until he could no longer make ends meet before asking for help.

Favors should be used in the right place.

The situation is that we can't win, but we can afford to waste time.

While the Li brothers were heading to Dingling, one of the chief commanders of the Eastern Yan army, General of Chariots and Cavalry, Commander-in-Chief of the Military Affairs of the Four Provinces of Yu, Yan, Xu and Yang, and Duke of Zhao, Lou Jushi, was looking at the distribution diagram of the Western Yan army and its recent movements compiled by his scouts, with a worried look on his face.

"Li Yuanhui is a tough guy. Not only is he afraid to move forward, he has also built fortresses in Yancheng and along the tributaries of the Ru River. He is planning to fight us to the bitter end. Even if Prince Lingzhi leads his army, he will not be able to win immediately. This kid is really..."

Upon hearing this, General Pu Gusu of the Right Tiger Guard said, "Li Yuanhui is only a young man, how can he have such insight? Could it be that Li Yuan planned to order him to hold his ground and consume our army?"

Yingchuan Governor Jiang Yi said: "General, you don't know that although Li Yuanhui is young, he is very methodical in his use of troops. In the eleventh year of Tiansheng, I joined the army for King Zhongwu of Wei, and was ordered by the old king to serve as Li Yuanhui's general to assist him in the use of troops to drive out the big bandit Zhou Menglong from Yingchuan and Chenjun. He marched cautiously along the way, set up camps, and was well organized. At that time, he was only fourteen years old, and now it has been more than six years. Watching his actions, he has become more and more experienced. And the old king often said that this boy is cautious in his actions and makes plans before taking action, but he dares to risk his life at critical moments. He may be a rare talent for generals in the future."

Murong Ding's ability to judge people was well-known among the generals of Dayan. Pu Gusu rose from a slave to a general, and the person who first promoted him was Murong Ding, the King of Wei Zhongwu.

For an official like Jiang Yi who had served in the army for his old benefactor and was saying the same things his old benefactor had said, he naturally would not refute them.

Mr. Lou stood up and walked to the map. Comparing it with the distribution map in his hand, he shook his head and said, "If the Western Army of Chen County is deployed in the same way, this war will be difficult. The Western Army is not fighting with me now, and it is even less likely to take the initiative to attack when King Lingzhi arrives. If we waste a year or two in Yingchuan, I am afraid that Guanzhong will also send troops. By then, Luoyang will be attacked from both sides and it will be difficult."

Faced with this kind of formation on the opposite side, Mr. Lou just felt a headache.

Jiang Yi said, "General, I think we should ask Luoyang to send envoys to Qingzhou, Jingnan, and Jiangdong to summon the troops of Jizhou and Youzhou to go south to help. Yingchuan is the gateway to Luoyang. If Yingchuan is lost, Luoyang will be in danger. Now Li Yuanhui has made up his mind to fight in Yingchuan. If we can't defeat him head-on, we can only find a way to make his backyard burn. I believe that the two Caos in Jiangdong and Jingnan will definitely not sit idly by and watch Li's northern expedition to Luoyang. There is also Zhai Rang in Qingzhou. As long as they send troops, not only Jianghuai or Nanyang, the sons of the Li family cannot sit idly by. Guan Yu was a great power in China back then. If Jiangling is lost, he will be defeated and killed."

Hearing this, Mr. Lou nodded and said, "This is the only way we can do now. I will write a letter to Luoyang. In addition, King Lingzhi's army will arrive within ten days. Before that, our army must take the initiative to attack and do our best to stop the Western Army from building the city. General Pu and I will lead the troops. It is up to you, Governor Jiang, to raise supplies for Yingyin. The country is in danger now, so please try your best and face the difficulties together."

After seeing through the intentions of Western Yan, Lou Jushi and Pu Gusu led more than 10,000 cavalrymen to attack.

The purpose was to prevent the Yan army from setting up camp between the Ru River and the Ying River.

But the Western Yan army was also well prepared. Li Yuanhui ordered Zhu Deyu to lead five battalions of infantry led by Guo Xing, Xu Qiande, Dou Xianjun, Zhang Zhen'e, and He Gui to form a battle array along the river, connecting them with baggage carts and preparing many strong bows and crossbows.

At the same time, he also transferred thousands of Di cavalrymen under his third brother, and together with Chang Yanheng's 6,000 cavalrymen, a total of 13,000 cavalrymen, although they could not directly compete with the Yan cavalrymen under Lou Jushi and Pu Gusu, the coordinated formation of 13,000 cavalrymen and 20,000 infantrymen was enough to daunt the Eastern Yan cavalry. In the end, it was Pu Gusu, the Right Tiger General, who was known as the "Ten Thousand Enemies", who personally led hundreds of heavy cavalrymen to attack the battle formation in order to boost morale.

Hundreds of heavy cavalry attacked in turns, with Pu Gusu leading the way. After charging several times in a row, he finally made a big hole in the infantry formation of Guo Xing's troops. Just when Guo Xing's troops were about to give up and were about to be defeated, Chang Yanheng led the light cavalry to attack and cut off the connection between Pu Gusu and the following light cavalry.

As the leader of the camp, Guo Xing immediately began to call out loudly and summoned his soldiers to restore the formation after getting a chance to catch his breath. After killing more than a dozen deserters in succession and personally leading his personal guards to the front, he managed to reverse the defeat.

When Pu Gusu saw this, he also hurriedly turned around and retreated, but the 300 heavy cavalrymen who followed him to charge the battle formation were trapped in the enemy's formation and could not return.

Moreover, the Western Yan army was constantly shrinking its formation, with light cavalry blocking their retreat route and infantry constantly squeezing out the space for Pu Gusu's troops to move.

You must know that the terrifying thing about heavy cavalry lies in its impact force, that is, kinetic energy. Once there is no space for the heavy cavalry to sprint, the heavy cavalry with both armor on horse and man will be a sitting duck on the battlefield.

Seeing that hundreds of Pu Gusu's cavalry were about to be surrounded and killed in the battle array, Master Lou secretly thought that it was not good and hurriedly ordered a fierce general in his army to rescue Pu Gusu.

"General Yuchi, you must lead your elite troops to rescue the Right General."

"The last general takes orders."

Afterwards, Wei Chi Gong, a tough man from Bingzhou who was born as a blacksmith, led hundreds of elite cavalrymen to attack. Wei Chi Gong led the way, holding a large spear, and charged into the Western Yan formation as if he was in an empty space. The Western Yan soldiers used their spears to stab him repeatedly, but they could not hit him.

Instead, he seized the spear and killed him.

These hundreds of cavalry disrupted the encirclement formation of the Yan army. Seeing this, Pu Gusu immediately led his troops to break out.

When Yuchi Gong saw Pu Gusu going out into the battle, he also turned around and rode back. His fellow fierce general Chang Yanheng walked up to a few dozen steps away and, seeing that Pu Gusu was brave and difficult to control, he drew his bow and shot an arrow, heading straight for Yuchi Gong's face.

The arrow came flying from the sky with a sound of breaking through the air. In an instant, Yuchi Gong realized the danger and lowered his head suddenly. The arrow hit the tassel on his helmet.

Yuchi Gong was horrified, then he turned his horse and rode away, leading his troops back to the camp.

If it were not for Mr. Lou's timely order to his fierce general Yuchi Gong to lead the army to rescue, Pu Gusu, the "enemy of ten thousand men", would have been trapped in the siege of the Western Yan infantry and cavalry and would have found it difficult to escape.

Afterwards, Lou Jushi could only keep trying to harass and engage in a seesaw battle with the Jianghuai Light Cavalry. Behind the infantry formation, tens of thousands of civilians recruited by the Western Yan Army in Yingchuan, as well as tens of thousands of auxiliary troops who followed the army, were working intensively.

This situation continued until early July. Duan Yihong led the vanguard to Yingchuan. After joining forces with Lou Jushi and others, he led his army to Linying. Seeing the battle formations and camps of the Western Yan army on the opposite bank, he shook his head repeatedly.

From Yinqiang to Yancheng, it was only a few dozen miles, but the Yan army built twelve camps with trenches, sheep and horse walls, fences, arrow towers, and watchtowers. They were connected by corridors, which was equivalent to building a Great Wall between the Ru River and the Ying River, and garrisoned heavily.

In addition, beacon towers were arranged along the Yingshui River, the Rushui River and their tributaries, and castles were built to guard the places where it was easy to cross the river.

"Impeccable."

(End of this chapter)