Chapter 457 Northern Expedition to Central Plains!

The flow of information in this era is subject to huge delays.

For example, the current Eastern Wei and Western Wei, the news they received at this time was that a month or two ago, Northern Yan was unstoppable and attacked all the way to the city of Luoyang as if with divine help.

Therefore, earlier, in winter when it was not suitable for advancing to the south, the Western Wei Dynasty, intending to take advantage of the situation, took the lead in sending troops.

The Western Wei sent an army of 100,000, led by Cao Xuan, the ruler of the Western Wei, accompanied by Ma Jingzhen, the Grand Marshal, to try to recapture Jiangxia. They besieged Xiakou for more than 30 days but failed. Then Li Daliang, the governor of Jingzhou, sent troops to attack Xiangfan, and the army of Jiangzhou also rushed to rescue Xiakou, so the Western Wei withdrew.

As for the Eastern Wei, it was also ready to make a move.

After the Battle of Baigou last year, the Eastern Wei court felt that the opportunity had come and that troops should be sent.

General Miao Xianyun and King of Chu Cao Cheng both felt that this was profitable and advocated sending troops to the north.

Since the new emperor Cao Yan ascended the throne, he has had many conflicts with his father-in-law, General Miao Xianyun, and his uncle, Prince of Chu Cao Cheng.

Cao Yan wanted to establish a new army and reorganize the military, hoping to organize a team that could obey orders and have strong combat effectiveness.

Unfortunately, there was a strong wave of opposition in the court, especially from the father-in-law of the emperor, the emperor's uncle, and some elders who came from powerful families.

As for the military power of the Eastern Wei, the new emperor Cao Yan could only control the guards that originally belonged to the Eastern Palace and the imperial guards of the previous emperor Cao Yuanjing.

The rest of the tribes were controlled by the two powerful ministers, Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng. After all, they were old brothers who followed Cao Yuanjing in starting the rebellion. Now facing the younger emperor, they naturally would not be as obedient as before.

Young people want power, and the older generation doesn't want to give up power.

Mixed in with them were the Jiangdong nobles and the former emperor's former subordinates, which made the situation in the Eastern Wei even more chaotic.

Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng wanted to take advantage of the war in the north this time and try to restrict the emperor through expeditions and military achievements.

It was not until the end of the first month and the end of the second month that Jianye received two pieces of intelligence, which finally made the emperor agree to Cao Cheng and Miao Xianyun's plan to send troops.

The first one is about the result of the war between Northern Yan and Tang Dynasty. The Battle of Mangshan was declared over, and the Yan army was not able to capture Luoyang in one go.

But before the Battle of Mangshan, the Yan army captured Liyang, an important town on the Yellow River, and later captured sixteen counties in Henei. Except for Hedong, they already controlled all of Hebei, which seemed to have gained a lot of strategic advantages.

However, the Battle of Mangshan resulted in heavy casualties, with two generals, Han Gui and Lou Daiwen, killed, and tens of thousands of soldiers lost, which was undoubtedly a defeat.

Judging from this information alone, after the Tang Dynasty won the battle in Luoyang, it was probably not a good time to seize Jianghuai.

As for the second piece of information, it was a major positive. The Tang army on the other side of the river was already preparing to march. And this information had been verified by many parties and was beyond doubt.

Both Cao Yuanjing and Cao Yan invested a lot of money and manpower and material resources in the intelligence work on Jianghuai. They dare not say that they know Jianghuai very well, but the march of the army cannot be fake.

This made many people in the Eastern Wei feel that even if the Tang Dynasty won, it would definitely be a pyrrhic victory, and its military strength would be somewhat inferior to that of Northern Yan.

That was why the Tang army that had returned to Jianghuai was mobilized to march north to Luoyang. The situation must have been not optimistic.

In short, as long as the Jianghuai Tang army marched north in large numbers, it would definitely be beneficial for the Wei army to march north. In the end, Cao Yan agreed to Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng's proposal to march north without knowing what he was thinking.

Starting from February, the Eastern Wei officially issued an edict appointing Miao Xianyun as the commander-in-chief of the Left Army and Cao Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the Right Army.

Send 200,000 troops to the north to conquer the Central Plains! Recover the Wei Dynasty!
Among them, Miao Xianyun led an army of 100,000 to attack Liyang, and Cao Cheng led an army of 100,000 to attack Ruxukou.

At this time, Chang Yanheng and Zhang Jian had led 30,000 infantry and cavalry to gather northward and head for Luoyang. Also traveling with them were about 10,000 people who had volunteered to come to Luoyang to serve the powerful people in Jianghuai. They were all elite soldiers carefully selected from their troops.

Lü Qin, the admiral of the navy who had been stationed in Jianghuai, was appointed as the General of Zhennan, and was given the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Three Commanderies, responsible for the defense south of the Huai River.

Xiahou Yuanhong, the governor of Ruxu, was promoted to General Hengjiang; Yin Gong, the governor of Liyang, was promoted to General Dangbandao; Zhou Ben, the governor of Hefei, was promoted to General Zhenglu.

Zhang Fu, the governor who had been in charge of the internal affairs of Yangzhou, was appointed as the governor of Yangzhou and concurrently the prefect of Huainan.

Zhang Gonglie, Zhou Qiu and other powerful military families in Jianghuai were also all rewarded.

The troops left behind in Jianghuai included several thousand Yangzhou Zhenrong troops and five elite Youwuwei troops from Zhechoufu. It was not a large number. Among them, there were only 4,000 people in Ruxuwu, 3,000 people in Liyang, and 3,000 people in Hefei. There were only hundreds of garrisons in the rest places. Together with the navy of Chaohu, there were more than 10,000 people. This was the total strength of the Tang army in the Jianghuai area, more than 23,000.

The reason why the number of Chaohu navy has decreased a lot compared to the tens of thousands at its peak is also because the formation of Jiangzhou navy and Qingzhou navy are all inseparable from the support of Chaohu navy.

The powerful tribes in the three counties of Lujiang, Huainan and Guangling actually have quite a large number of people, and at least tens of thousands of people can be recruited.

But in Li Yuanhui's opinion, the fighting capacity of these powerful troops was worrying, and they could only fight in favorable battles. To fight tough battles, he had to rely on the old troops led by his old subordinates.

Therefore, Li Yuanhui's military and political orders to the civil and military officials stationed in Jianghuai required them to be vigilant at all times, be especially careful during combat, and even sometimes have to guard against these local powerful forces.

Who knows if they will turn to the Eastern Wei when the Tang army is in decline? This kind of thing is not new.

After learning that the Wei army was planning a northern expedition, Lu Qin, who had just been awarded the titles of "General of Zhennan", "Envoy with Special Envoyship" and "Grandmaster of the Three Departments", sent messengers to Luoyang and, at the same time, inspected the defense along the river in accordance with the old practice of Li Yuanhui when he was in Jianghuai.

The military report arrived in Luoyang before the army.

After seeing the military information sent by Lu Qin, Li Yuanhui smiled instead.

Gao Kan, a Zhonglang official, was somewhat surprised and asked, "Why is your Majesty laughing? Although the Eastern Wei failed in all five northern expeditions, I heard that the new emperor Cao Yan is brave and good at fighting, and knows how to appoint the right people. Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng are also veterans who have been in the army for a long time. Now that the whole country has come, why does your Majesty despise them?"

All the staff nodded in agreement.

Li Yuanhui smiled and said, "I have dealt with the Eastern Wei for ten years, so how could I not know the details of the Eastern Wei? In this northern expedition, if the new emperor Cao Yan leads the three armies northward, at least half of the thirty Zhechongfu of the left and right Wuwei should be left behind so that we can sleep peacefully at night. If Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng lead the army northward, then we can send 3,000 soldiers from Southern Yuzhou to help us, to boost our momentum."

Seeing that everyone had puzzled expressions, Li Yuanhui said calmly, "I heard from Dou Shi that the new emperor of the Eastern Wei, Cao Yan, only eats four dishes for three meals a day. Some of the clothes he wears are the ones he wore before he became the crown prince. There are only a few women in the harem, and he doesn't like dancing and music. There are no rare treasures on the table, but only reports from prefectures and counties and military archives. Although I have never fought against him, I am very afraid of him. But now the two defeated generals Miao Xianyun and Cao Cheng are the ones who are in charge of the battle! Is there still need to worry? The generals in Jianghuai were all appointed by me personally, and the defense line along the river was built by me personally. The Wei army that landed is not worth mentioning!"

Li Yuanhui was so calm, and his words were full of contempt for the Wei army. This made the generals and staff members' original worries disappear.

No matter what time, the coach's attitude is related to the stability of people's hearts.

(End of this chapter)