Chapter 278 Attack
"There is no other way but to break it with force."

After discussion, the two veterans Duan Yihong and Lou Jushi finally decided to launch a strong attack.

In addition to attacking the Western Yan army camp head-on, he also decided to send a cavalry to attack the Western Yan army in Chenjun, and ordered Li Yaoshi's troops to cooperate.

This was probably to distract the Yan army's attention, but also because there was currently no place for cavalry on the front battlefield.

The Western Army deployed its defenses along the river, and the main line of defense was the twelve forts between the Yingshui River and the Rushui River, which lay between the two rivers. There were beacon towers of the Yan army along the tributaries of the Rushui River and the Yingshui River. If they found that you had built a pontoon bridge somewhere, they could directly send troops to guard it, or attack you when you were halfway across the river.

Therefore, the simplest and most direct way is to directly break through the twelve camps of the Western Yan Army in front.

Of course, there is another way, which is to directly cross the Ru River and attack Yancheng.

But it is undoubtedly more difficult.

So Duan Yihong directly gathered tens of thousands of elite infantrymen and prepared to attack the camp of the Western Yan army.

Seeing that the other side was planning a strong attack, Li Yuanhui crossed the river from Yancheng and came to the joint camp after hearing the news.

Standing on the observation tower several meters high, one can see the vast land between the Yingshui River and the Rushui River. Tens of thousands of Eastern Yan infantrymen are assembled in neat formations, with no boundaries and no shores, giving a sense of being as still as a mountain as described in military books.

And between the infantry formations and beside the river, there were large groups of cavalry patrolling.

Li Yuanhui pointed to the front and said, "This is the Yan Central Army that followed Emperor Zhaowu to drive Tuyuhun to the west and conquer Goguryeo to the east. They advance and retreat in moderation and march in an orderly manner. They are truly the elite troops in the world. The military books say that their morale is so high that they cannot be defeated. Is this probably the case?"

The central army of Eastern Yan was a descendant of the army that led by Emperor Taizu Wu of the Han Dynasty, Murong Yi, to rule the Central Plains. Its main members were Xianbei people and northern Han warriors. Although many soldiers had been replaced over the years, this army had been fighting in the south and the north and maintained a high level of combat effectiveness.

In contrast, the Jianghuai Army was a completely new army formed by Li Yuanhui in the past few years.

Among them, it is composed of people from both sides of the Huai River, such as Huainan, Lujiang and Yuzhou refugees. Geographically speaking, they are Huaisi, not a purely southern army.

This new army has undergone rigorous training since its formation and has experienced several major battles, and has almost never been defeated.

So when these words were spoken, several Jianghuai generals were not happy to hear them.

"General, you are wrong. Although the Eastern Army is elite, our Huainan warriors are not made of clay. In this battle, we must let the Eastern Army know how powerful we Huainan warriors are!"

The speaker was Tang He, who had just been promoted to camp leader. Hu Kuohai and Xu Qiande then also bowed their hands and clasped their fists to show their determination.

Li Yuanhui smiled upon hearing this, and then said, "Okay, General Zhu and I will stand here and watch you generals perform your duties. The reputation of the Huaishang warriors will all be in your hands."

"I will not let down the general's trust."

After expressing their opinions, the generals returned to their camps to prepare for battle.

Those who stayed on the observation deck included Zhu Deyu, the commander-in-chief of the army, Li Qinglian, the guard and military advisor, two assistants Gao Kan and Yu Zhining, and Li Chunfeng, the recorder.

"Brother Zhu, can the twelve camps you built withstand the Eastern Army's attack?"

Li Yuanhui's eyes never left the Eastern Army formation that was gathering several miles away. He was very clear about the fighting power of this army. It was very powerful and terrifying.

Although the Jianghuai Army was also elite and had a solid camp to rely on, Li Yuanhui still lacked confidence.

However, after hearing the inquiry, Zhu Yuanhui gave Li Yuanhui a shot in the arm. "General, I believe that there is no camp that cannot be broken in this world, but with our Jianghuai Iron Army here, even if he has a million troops, he can't advance a single step!"

Li Yuanhui laughed when he heard this, "Hahaha, great. If we can hold out until my second brother's reinforcements arrive, Brother Zhu and the soldiers here will have made a great contribution, and the court will certainly reward us generously."

While the two were talking, the battle officially began.

Duan Yihong appointed Chen Leng as the vanguard commander and led 10,000 infantrymen to attack two camps of the Yan army.

General Chen Leng was one of the ten generals of the brave army during the reign of Emperor Zhaowu Murong Ying, and was an old acquaintance of Li Yuanhui. Born as an ordinary soldier, Chen Leng relied on his military exploits and bravery to gain the appreciation of Murong Ying and Murong Ding, and thus got his current position.

As the commander of the front line this time, Chen Leng carefully observed the setting up of the Western Army's camp. He ordered people to build long ladders and prepare more wooden boards early in the morning.

Then he recruited hundreds of brave warriors with a large sum of money and asked them to hold shields and move the deer horns set up by the Western Army in front of the formation.

The commander of the two middle camps was Guo Xing, the commander of the Lujiang Left Camp. When he saw that the Eastern Army began to move the deer horns, he ordered his skilled archers to snipe and kill these Eastern Army soldiers from a long distance.

In addition to facing the arrows from the Western Army, the Eastern Army soldiers also had to face the pits in front of the chevaux de frise. Even so, the Eastern Army soldiers still suffered heavy casualties and removed all the antlers from the two middle camps. Of the hundreds of warriors, only dozens were left.

Then the Eastern Army's large group began to move forward carrying ladders. Under the rain of arrows, they placed the ladders against the wall of the Western Army's camp. Then they placed wooden boards on two ladders and built a simple bridge while holding up their shields.

During this period, soldiers of the Eastern Army were constantly shot down by arrows from the Western Army and fell into the trenches.

The archers of the Eastern Army also advanced to the front of the formation and fired arrows to suppress the Western Army's camp. Arrows from both sides rained down, causing considerable trouble and casualties to the other side.

The Eastern Army built ten wooden bridges despite heavy casualties. Seeing this, Chen Leng ordered the heavy infantry to attack.

The heavy infantry wore heavy armor, carried long spears and large shields, and some carried large axes.

The soldiers holding shields walked in the front, followed by those with spears and axes. The spearmen fought against the Western Army through the gaps between the fences, while the axes were used to chop down the fences erected on the Western Army's walls.

Under the military order, the Eastern Army advanced one after another, stabbing each other with their spears. Because they were on a simple wooden bridge, they had very little room to dodge, and many of them were stabbed by the Western Army's spears because they could not dodge in time. Although the Eastern Army was wearing heavy armor, the heavy armor had good protection against arrows and sword strikes, but its protection against spear stabbing was very poor.

In just over an hour, the Eastern Army left hundreds of corpses in the trenches in front of the Western Army's camp. However, the Eastern Army's continuous advance finally made several fences on the Western Army's camp shaky.

But just as the Eastern Army cut down the fence, problems arose with the simple wooden bridge they had temporarily built.

The wooden boards and the ladders below broke and collapsed due to the constant trampling of a large number of heavily armored infantry, and some Eastern Army soldiers fell directly into the trench.

In the end, only two of the ten simple wooden bridges were left intact, and they were already on the verge of collapse. The Western Army simply broke through the broken parts of the fence and drove away the Eastern Army that was still holding out.

Both sides suffered casualties in the first day of the battle, but the Eastern Army suffered more casualties, with nearly a thousand casualties on the first day alone.

Through observations during the first day of combat, Chen Leng also discovered a problem.

That is, the Jianghuai Army in front of them not only has a camp to rely on, but also has extremely strong combat effectiveness.

Even if the infantry of both sides were fighting on flat ground, without the participation of cavalry, the chances of winning or losing would probably be fifty-fifty.

This means that if you want to break through the enemy's camp, you will have to suffer far more casualties than the enemy.

(End of this chapter)