Chapter 405: Become the Founding Duke with you?

Liu Xuanji appointed General Kang Yanxiao as the governor of Taiyuan and the general of Zhenbei to guard Jinyang.

He then led his troops south from Jinyang, all the way to Shangdang, passed through Taihang from Fukou Pass, and led his troops into Yecheng. At the same time, he also mobilized elite troops from Xindu to provide support.

By mid-September, the number of Chinese and foreign troops of Northern Yan near Yecheng had reached 80,000.

Among them, more than 50,000 were elite troops in the central army, and the rest were soldiers from prefectures and counties and the followers of powerful families.

The reason why the Yan army dared to send troops at this moment was largely because they had consumed very little in the battle to capture Jinyang at the beginning of the year.

They also won an overwhelming victory over the Tang army in Shangdang, so morale was very high.

Under such circumstances, the Yan army wanted to make further efforts.

Liu Xuanji still placed the main attack direction on Liyang, and personally led more than 50,000 troops to besiege it. His plan was to besiege Liyang to attract the Tang army to come for rescue, and then defeat the Tang army's reinforcements in a field battle.

As for attacking Liyang by force, he had never thought about it.

After all, the Tang army still has the advantage in military strength. Once they consume too much energy in the siege, let alone whether they can capture Liyang, what can they use to resist the Tang army's reinforcements?

Liu Xuanji personally supervised the armies of five generals, Dongfang Di, Fu Hongzhi, Tuoba Tianmu, Hulu Mingyue and Zhao Xiang, totaling more than 30,000 people, together with the imperial guards and the central army of the Han Dynasty as the main force to block the reinforcements.

In addition, Zhang Shiwu and Su Dingbian were sent to lead their own troops, along with 20,000 powerful troops and soldiers from prefectures and counties, to be responsible for the siege of the city.

Governor Zhu Lingshi led his own 6,000 troops and Wang Xiong's Yecheng army, totaling 10,000 people, to monitor the direction of Chaoge.

At the same time, he ordered General Wei Xiaoju of the Cavalry to lead the Shangdang army out of Taihangxing and Zixiaguan areas to create a decoy and wait for an opportunity to act.

After receiving the emergency call from Liyang, Li Yuanhui personally led the main forces of the left and right Wuwei stationed in Luoyang with more than 30,000 troops, as well as 6,000 guards, more than 3,000 personal troops under his command, and more than 3,000 Beiwei troops, crossed the river bridge, rushed to Hanoi, and prepared to fight.

At the same time, Chai Rong, the Duke of Qiao who had just been promoted to the General of the Right Guard, also led 15,000 elite troops of the Wei Palace to Bai Ma, just on the opposite bank of Liyang, ready to cross the river and attack at any time.

For a time, war clouds gathered along the Yellow River.

At this time, the Tang army did not have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength.

Originally, the troops in Henei, Chaoge and Liyang numbered only more than 20,000 people.

Among them, Zhao Yi of Liyang had 6,000 soldiers, Chaoge had about 7,000, and Li Sixing stationed in Hanoi also had only about 7,000. However, the Hanoi garrison needed to guard Taihang Pass and Zixia Pass, so the actual mobile force was only 3,000.

However, the more than 40,000 troops led by Li Yuanhui himself, plus Chai Rong's 15,000 troops in Bai Ma, were the main forces in the battle.

If the Yan army's siege troops were also counted, the Tang army would not have any advantage in the comparison of military strength between the two sides.

However, even if he only had to face more than 30,000 people under Liu Xuanji's command, the imperial guards, and thousands of cavalry assigned to the Prince of Han's Palace, their strength was almost the same as the mobile strength of the Tang army, which was enough to give Li Yuanhui a headache.

After leading his army to Hanoi, Li Yuanhui, as usual, led hundreds of elite cavalry and several generals to the front line to investigate and see the deployment of the Yan army. This was his old habit, and he would usually investigate the area where the two armies actually controlled the border.

Be aware of the nearby terrain and specific conditions. In the past, Li Yuanhui was very careful when conducting reconnaissance and would never rashly enter the enemy's controlled area. This time was no exception.

But a cavalry of the Yan army suddenly appeared in front of the Tang army, as if to prove the saying: If you often walk by the river, you will get your feet wet.

On the banks of the Wei River, when Li Yuanhui led hundreds of cavalry to the front line to investigate the situation, he happened to encounter a Yan cavalry unit of more than several thousand people.

The team was led by Governor Lou Daiwen. When he saw the Tang cavalry in front of him, he saw that they were well-armored, the team was in good order, and the flags were bright. He thought that they should be the personal guards of a general. He immediately concluded that there must be a big fish in this team.

He immediately led his troops along the Wei River, and at the same time, he sent five teams of hundreds to intercept them in an outflanking manner to prevent them from escaping.

At this time, Li Yuanhui was taking Li Qinglian, Zhu Deyu, Chang Yanheng and others to observe the terrain and to select the battlefield. The three guards Xue Wanche, Yuchi Jingde and Han Quan each led a hundred cavalry guards to accompany them. Together with the personal guards of Zhu Deyu and Chang Yanheng, this cavalry team had nearly four hundred people.

After seeing the Yan army rushing over, Zhu Deyu immediately said: "The Yan army has a large number of cavalry, please let the king go ahead."

Li Yuanhui took a quick look and also found that the enemy was outflanking, and then said: "With you here, do I still need to worry about the number of enemy troops?"

Having led troops to fight for a long time, Li Yuanhui's understanding of warfare has been constantly deepening. Although the Yan army is large in number and aggressive,

His own side only has about one-fifth of the enemy's. But the leaders are all super-powerful generals like Yuchi Jingde, Chang Yanheng, and Xue Wanche, and the soldiers are also carefully selected elites. Otherwise, how could they be qualified to enter his Qi Wang Mansion as a guard? In this case, the number of troops is not the key to determining the outcome of the battle.

And once they run away, they will lose the initiative on the battlefield. We are all cavalry, and when we are being chased, all we want to do is escape and run fast.

But when charging, the only thing you want to do is kill the opponent.

So running away is not an option, as that might lead to real trouble, so it is better to confront the enemy head-on. With so many powerful generals, why can't they defeat the enemy's cavalry?
Upon hearing this, Yuchi Jingde immediately said, "Everyone wait a moment, and watch me defeat the enemy for the king."

After saying this, he rushed out on his horse holding a long spear. Chang Yanheng also jumped out on his horse and called out, "Yuchi, do you want to compete with me for the first place?"

Yuchi Jingde laughed and said, "Then let's have a competition."

Just these two men rushed towards the rushing cavalry.

This surprised Li Yuanhui. He knew that these two people were very fierce, but he didn't know they were so fierce. You two just went to charge into the battle? He just wanted to say "Fuck".
Then Li Yuanhui said to Xue Wanche: "General Xue, you lead a hundred cavalrymen to support them."

Xue Wanche asked, "What about the king?"

Li Yuanhui said: "You go ahead first."

Xue Wanche said, "Yes," and then rode out to the front of the battle array, shouting, "Right Second Guard, the cavalry follow me."

After saying that, he led a hundred cavalrymen and charged directly towards the Yan army.

Li Yuanhui was also brave for once, and shouted: "When two people meet on a narrow road, the brave one wins, kill."

He then rode out and followed closely behind Xue Wanche's cavalry.

Han Quan and Zhu Deyu followed closely on his left and right, and Li Qinglian also drew his sword and followed behind.

Behind them were more than 200 brave cavalrymen.

At this time, Chang Yanheng and Yuchi Jingde had already rushed into the Yan army formation, one with a lance and the other with a spear, both of them were unstoppable.

Xue Wanche, who followed closely behind him, was also an expert in using a horse lance, and was no less brave than the previous two. He also had a hundred elite cavalrymen behind him, who directly cleared a path for Li Yuanhui behind him.

After Li Yuanhui entered the battle, he drew his bows to his left and right. Every time he shot an arrow, a cavalryman of the Yan army fell down.

If the situation had continued to develop normally, the Tang army should have broken through the siege of the Yan army and defeated it, but suddenly a strong wind blew.

The flying sand and rocks made it impossible to open one's eyes. The wind blew up a small stone and hit the eyes of the warhorse under Li Yuanhui's crotch.

Feeling the pain, the good horse from the Western Regions ran away in another direction.

In the midst of the dust, no one observed carefully, so Li Yuanhui was led off the original direction by his horse and lost touch with those in front and behind him.

Li Yuanhui used his hands to block out the dust. When the wind died down and he could see clearly, he suddenly realized that he had rushed into the encirclement of the Yan cavalry and was right on the bank of the Wei River.

This Yan army had about 700 soldiers, and they were the cavalry sent by Lou Daiwen to encircle them. They also found Li Yuanhui at the same time. Although they didn't know who he was, they were sure that the man in armor was not an ordinary soldier.

They were about to surround and arrest him, but Li Yuanhui, seeing this, immediately fled on his horse.

The Yan army pursued them relentlessly, and Li Yuanhui kept drawing his bow and shooting back, killing more than a dozen Yan cavalrymen in succession.

But the Yan army had hundreds of cavalry, which was too large in number, and he was alone, so the pursuit continued.

Li Yuanhui was concentrating on his work, not daring to slack off. The horse under his crotch was just trying to make things difficult for him today. As it was running, it tripped over something and fell off its feet.

After being thrown off his horse, Li Yuanhui was still a little confused, but he knew he had to stand up. Li Yuanhui took off the helmet on his head, then drew out his sword and stood up.

He was a little hesitant for a moment, not knowing what to do. Should he say, "I will be your founding duke?"

(End of this chapter)