Chapter 415 Step by Step
At the gate of Huai County, Wei Xiaoju, General of the Cavalry of Northern Yan, Grand Commander of the Imperial Court, and Governor of Yuzhou Military Affairs, stationed more than 10,000 elite troops and surrounded the city.

In addition, the governor Zhao Xiang was sent with 6,000 elite troops from his own army to block the river bridge.

Beiyan took action at a very good time, shortly after the Tang army had just completed the handover, and the two Zhechoufu of Zuoweiwei had not yet fully understood the situation near Zixia Pass and were familiar with the defense.

And the reason why there is such a good opportunity is not for no reason. This is why Wei Xiaoju's intelligence work is very good. He knows the situation in Hanoi very well.

If Li Yuanhui had not mobilized his own troops back to Jianghuai, even if Wei Xiaoju had detailed intelligence, he would have no chance to capture Zixia Pass guarded by Jianghuai's elite troops.

But at this moment, Wei Xiaoju seized the opportunity.

When Li Sixing, who was stationed in Huai County, learned that Zixia Pass was attacked, it was too late for him to go to support. He led more than 5,000 soldiers and horses and encountered the Yan army on the way to support. The two sides fought, and Li Sixing's army failed and retreated to Huai County.

Wei Xiaoju also took advantage of the situation and surrounded him. In this situation, Li Sixing did not dare to be careless at all. He closed the door and defended himself, and sent a letter for help to Luoyang.

At this moment, Luoyang was short of military forces.

Originally, there were 60,000 troops stationed in Luoyang. Among them, there were about 40,000 elite soldiers from the left and right guards, more than 10,000 from the left and right guards, and more than 10,000 from Li Yuanhui's personal army. Not long ago, the nearly 40,000 elite soldiers from the left and right guards and the old Jianghuai army had almost all moved south.

There were only about 10,000 Weiwei soldiers stationed in Luoyang, as well as 6,000 Qi Wang's guards, 3,000 Beiwei soldiers, and 3,600 personal soldiers under the account, totaling 20,000 people. Li Yuanhui transferred Liu Yuanqing and Chen Zhen to lead 10 Zhechongfu each, and Huang Junhan to lead 5 Zhechongfu to garrison in Luoyang, and they were still on the way. This time was exactly when Luoyang was most short of troops.

But Huai County was in an important location and had to be rescued, so Li Yuanhui ordered Xiao Shizhi to lead the ten Zhechoufu of the Zuoyou Weiwei in Luoyang, with more than 10,000 people, to cross the river to the north via the bridge and rush to the rescue of Huai County.

As for Chaoge and Liyang, Liu Xuanji led his army south again. The situation for a while was much more critical than the confrontation between the two sides last year.

In addition, Liu Xuanji not only led his troops to attack Yongyu City again, but also sent nearly 20,000 reinforcements to support Wei Xiaoju. His strategic intention was to capture Huai County.

Once Huai County was lost, the Tang army would have to abandon Chaoge and Liyang north of the Yellow River, and the situation would become one of being separated by a river.

In the main hall of the Prince of Qi's mansion, Li Yuanhui looked at the map with a solemn expression. He really didn't expect the current situation. Liu Xuanji grasped the opportunity so well. It was definitely supported by intelligence work. So this person can't be too selfish, otherwise it will definitely cause trouble.

The current situation is very clear. If Li Yuanhui wants to lift the siege of Huai County, he has to use all the remaining assets in his hands.

If Huai County is not rescued, then Liyang and Chaoge, the two frontier positions against Northern Yan, will have to be abandoned. That means that after Li Yuan arrives, there will be nothing left north of the Yellow River. After the Yan army controls Henei, it will also be a very big threat to the flanks and rear of Hedong.

After discussing the situation, Li Yuanhui ordered Xie Shufang, one of the six guards, to stay behind without any hesitation, and the rest of the troops all followed him across the river to lift the siege of Huai County.

In addition, Li Yuanhui also ordered someone to pass a message to Chai Rong, the Duke of Qiao in Bai Ma, asking him to feint an attack on the enemy in the direction of Liyang to contain and cover this side.

At the same time, he sent orders to Liu Yuanqing, Murong Sanzang and others, asking the various guard troops on the road to speed up their march and reach Luoyang as soon as possible.

"Your Highness, isn't it a bit risky to gamble everything on this?"

In terms of strategic arrangements, there were only 3,000 soldiers left in Luoyang, 1,000 of whom were guards of the Qi Palace, and another 2,000 were left behind by the Right Guards, all of whom were veterans from Luoyang, so they were not transferred to Jianghuai. It was definitely risky to leave only 3,000 soldiers in such a large city like Luoyang.

The deeper meaning of Dugu Ying's question is, Your Highness, we all have to stand aside. You are not responsible for the battle in Luoyang in the future. Do you really need to lead your troops to fight? Is this necessary?

But Li Yuanhui made it clear: "Henei can be lost, but it cannot be lost in my hands. If I am not here, what does Luoyang have to do with me?"

Dugu Ying bowed and said, "I am short-sighted."

On the other side, after Xiao Shizhi led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses across the river bridge, they encountered 6,000 infantry and cavalry led by Zhao Xiang.

The two sides met in the north of the river bridge and started a fierce battle. Although Xiao Shizhi was ordered by Li Yuanhui to rush to Huai County, he was very cautious in using troops, so Li Yuanhui asked him to go to support.

Because Li Yuanhui knew that if he let others go, they might make rushing to Huai County their first priority, but if he let Xiao Shizhi lead the troops, he would definitely put the safety of the troops under his command first.

So Xiao Shizhi's troops were in a hurry to travel, but the reinforcement troops were in order, including crossing the bridge and reorganizing after crossing the bridge.

After completing the formation, Xiao Shizhi left another 2,000 men stationed outside the northern city of Heqiao to assist in the defense of Heqiao for the safety of the rear, and continued to move forward with 8,000 men.

After all, this river bridge is currently the fastest route from Luoyang to Hebei. Safety is very important, as it is related to the retreat route of their reinforcements and the speed of subsequent reinforcements.

The Tang army reinforcements were well-organized and did not give the Yan army under Zhao Xiang any opportunity to take advantage. The battle between the two sides was quite intense.

Xiao Shizhi was born in Lanling Xiao Clan. He was familiar with military books and tactics since he was young. He had fought for many years and was a general who was very good at both theory and practice. He was always relied on by Li Yuanhui because of his prudent behavior. He was often given important tasks such as leading an army alone, staying behind, or training and managing the army.

Zhao Xiang was born as a frontier warrior, and was a cavalryman of Youzhou Cavalry in his early years. He was an old brother of Liu Xuanji, brave and good at fighting. Although he was promoted to governor by accumulating merits, the biggest factor that enabled him to reach this position was definitely that he was Liu Xuanji's confidant.

If Xiao Shizhi had marched in a hurry, Zhao Xiang would have seized the opportunity to defeat him.

But once Xiao Shizhi stabilized and advanced steadily, Zhao Xiang had no choice but to bite the bullet and engage in a head-on confrontation with the Tang army.

Therefore, in this battle, the Yan army did not actually play to their imagined advantages of waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out and taking the enemy by surprise.

The Tang army, which had stabilized, still relied on its tight formation. Although the number of cavalry was small and they were unable to play a major role, they still used their formation to fight the Yan army on equal terms.

The two sides fought fiercely until dark, and it was the Yan army that took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield.

The Tang army set up camp right on the battlefield, using baggage carts to form an outer barrier to prevent nighttime cavalry raids by the Yan army.

Xiao Wangzhi remained calm throughout the whole process and personally patrolled the camp to check the nighttime defense situation.

Zhao Xiang prepared to launch night attacks several times, but because he failed to find any loopholes on the Tang army's part, he could only carry out some harassment.

On the second day, Xiao Wangzhi still did not rush to advance, and only traveled thirty miles. However, it was only a few dozen miles away from Huai County, and he could arrive in two days at most.

Wei Xiaoju, the commander of the Yan army who was in charge of the siege of Huai County, was also a little anxious when he saw this.

The Yan army dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, with more than 30,000 soldiers besieging Huai County alone, and nearly 40,000 soldiers leading the way to block the Tang army's reinforcements.

Among them, more than 10,000 were from Shangdang's Zhenrong Army, and the rest were Liu Xuanji's elite central army.

So he knew that Liu Xuanji had high hopes for this opportunity, so he didn't want any mistakes to happen.

But given the current situation, it will still take some time for the Yan army to capture Huai County.

Li Sixing, the general of the Right Guard of the Tang Dynasty stationed in Huai County, was also quite capable and could be considered a veteran on the battlefield. He was able to defend a county town with a force of thousands of soldiers and the city was not breached within two or three days.

Time was dragging on for too long, so Li Yuanhui personally led his elite troops to join forces with the defenders in the city. This was not a very good scene for the Yan army.

Perhaps Commandant Liu was waiting for Li Yuanhui?

(End of this chapter)