Chapter 522: Wei is seen again at the gates of Hefei

After hearing that Liu Daohe had passed away, Li Yuanhui felt sorry for the missed opportunity. He thought too much and lost the chance to go north to Yecheng.

And because Liu Xuanji suddenly withdrew his troops, Li Sanlang also wrote a letter stating that there was no need to send troops from Luoyang at the moment, but if the situation on the battlefield became stalemate, Silang should also be prepared to send troops.

The two sides were originally planning to fight a major battle in Pingyang, which could even determine the fate of the two countries. Li Sanlang continued to advance towards Jinyang, but was blocked by the new defense line established by the Han army in Jiexiu.

After suspending court for three days for Liu Daohe, Liu Xuanji led his troops to the Qishui line.

When Zhu Deyu learned that Liu Xuanji had led his army in person, he knew that the other side was coming to relieve the siege of Fangtou, and that the emperor's personal expedition would certainly boost the morale of the Han army. Therefore, he immediately retreated into the seven garrisons that had been captured by the Han army before, used them as a fulcrum to establish a defense line, and then sent the military intelligence to Luoyang.

Li Yuanhui's first reaction was to send more troops. He was ready to send Zhang Jian and Chang Yanheng to lead 20 Zhechongfu of the Right Guard and 20,000 infantry and cavalry to the Qishui battlefield for support.

But Li Qinglian dissuaded him, saying that since Liu Xuanji had returned, Yecheng now had a backbone and there was no point in sending more troops at this time.

Dugu Ying also suggested that although Liu Xuanji left the main army in Bingzhou and sent light cavalry back, there were still tens of thousands of Han troops left in Yecheng. It would be better to send all the troops at once instead of sending 20,000 more at this time.

After thinking about it, Li Yuanhui had to admit that this was right. It was really meaningless to continue fighting the enemy on the Qishui line. It would only increase consumption, so the military order given to Zhu Deyu became to retreat to the west of the Qishui River.

Although Zhu Deyu wanted to continue fighting, he still put military orders first and retreated to the Qi River line to continue confronting the Han army.

Seeing the Tang army retreat so decisively, Liu Xuanji felt like he was punching cotton. He knew that it would be futile to raise an army at this time, so he could only lead his army back to Yecheng. Both sides fought very restrainedly on the battlefield of Qishui.

But the Jianghuai battlefield thousands of miles away was a completely different scene.

Cao Yan led 100,000 Wei troops northward and attacked Hefei.

In recent years, the Tang army's defense in the Jianghuai area has relied on local powerful forces such as Zhang Gonglie, Zhou Qiu, and Li Feng to build multiple strongholds through methods such as farming. Only a few strategic places such as Hefei, Ruxukou, Shouchun, Zhongli, and Lu'an have stationed some old Jianghuai troops.

After last year's war, the Tang army also found that no matter how strong the frontier strongholds were, they could not withstand the main force of the Wei army in Jiangdong that crossed the river day and night. The rescue from Luoyang might not be in time, so they decided to send important generals to lead the entire war zone and strengthen the mobile forces between the Yangtze River and the Huai River.

Before Li Yaoshi led his army to arrive, tens of thousands of Eastern Wei troops landed at Chaohu Lake slowly and methodically occupied the key passes and high ground outside the city. The armies were in an endless stream, with the banners representing the commanders of each army held high, standing like a forest with spears, halberds and halberds.

In contrast, all the garrisons, passes and camps between Chaohu and Hefei were abandoned. Except for a small number of elite troops garrisoning a few forts and beacon towers far north of the city, all the Tang army's forces were concentrated in Hefei.

The general who previously led the Jianghuai region was General Zhennan Lü Qin, who now led the main force of the navy to Jiangzhou. The people in charge of defending the city were Yin Gong, the governor of Hefei appointed by Li Yuanhui himself, as well as Li Feng and Zhou Qiu.

"The 'Lu' is the Left General Lu Rengong, and the 'Han' next to him must be the Guard General Han Ling. The 'Liu' who occupied the east of the city should be Liu Renshan, who went around to the south of the city. The Right General Zhu something died last year and now it is his son Zhu Song..." While looking at the flags below, Yin Gong held a pen and drew a rough diagram of the Eastern Wei army's formation on silk.

"Hehe... this doesn't look good." After Yin Gong finished drawing the figure, he sneered.

Yin Gong had been guarding Hefei before Li Yuanhui came to Jianghuai. After so many years, he knew the details of the Jiangdong Army very well. He knew who was brave and good at fighting, who was mature and steady, and whose subordinates were well-equipped. Just look at the generals who appeared under the city of Hefei now. Almost all of them are familiar faces and they have fought against each other before.

And this is only the most advanced part of the Jiangdong army. From the east of Hefei, extending to both sides of Chaohu Lake, to the southern foot of Ruxu Mountain, there are countless Jiangdong troops. Even if there are not 200,000 troops as claimed by the Eastern Wei, there must be more than 100,000. General Longxiang Zhou Qiu and General Huwei Li Feng surrounded him on the left and right. At present, there are 7,000 defenders in the city, 2,000 troops each from Zhou and Li, and 3,000 regular troops directly under Yin Gong, all of whom are veteran Jianghuai troops.

Although they were facing an Eastern Wei army of more than 100,000, as the defenders, they had sufficient food, fodder, and military equipment, and complete city defense facilities, so 7,000 people were enough to defend the city.

Veteran General Zhou Qiu asked, "General Yin, is there any news about Zhou Ben in Lu'an?"

General Zhou Ben, who was stationed in the important town of Lu'an, was Zhou Qiu's nephew, but his nephew's qualifications were similar to those of Yin Gong. Before Li Yuanhui entered Hefei, both of them were stationed in Hefei as colonels.

Now they are all important generals in charge of the garrison, and Zhou Ben is a team closer to Hefei except Shouchun.

Yin Gong shook his head and said, "We can't count on Zhou Ben. The enemy is strong and we are weak. Lu'an and Hefei seem to be interdependent, but in fact they can't help each other in times of emergency. Therefore, he has sent people to Shouchun to ask Li, the governor, to dig up the embankment on the north side of Shaobi and drain the water from Shaobi into the lower reaches of Feishui and Lijiangshui. In this way, the water level of the upper reaches of Feishui will drop rapidly, and the connection with Shishui will be cut off..."

Li Feng shook his head and said, "Are you prepared for the fall of Lu'an and Hefei?"

Yin Gong smiled and said, "General Zhou has always been cautious. However, General Zhou can think this way, but I can't. The king asked me to stay in Hefei, not to open the floodgates and release the water."

Zhou Qiu laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, General Yin, although Zhou Ben is my nephew, he is not as courageous as me. My Lujiang Zhou family has received great favors from the king, and my father and I were personally selected by the king and granted the title of general. Now that the Jiangdong Wei army is invading the border, my Zhou family's 2,000 men are all under the command of the general, so charging into battle is no problem!"

Li Feng also said: "The two thousand Li's troops are the same. Since the king has appointed the general as the commander, we will follow the general's lead."

Yin Gongze clasped his fists and said solemnly, "Thank you two generals for your trust. Although this place is a dangerous place, it is a strategic point between the north and the south. It is because the king trusts me that he entrusted me with the task. However, I have been guarding Hefei for many years, but I only had the opportunity to fight when I rushed to support the East Gate of Ruxu. Now the Wei army has come to the city of Hefei. It is really God who allowed me to do meritorious deeds to repay the king's kindness. I heard that in the past, Wei general Zhang Wenyuan defeated 100,000 Wu troops with 800 cavalrymen under the city of Hefei. Today, let the Wei army see the bravery of our Tang army. Now that the enemy troops have arrived at the city one after another, they are new and have not yet established a firm foothold. We can select hundreds of elite soldiers and go out of the city to catch the Wei army off guard. What do you two generals think?"

Zhou Qiu said: "Okay, I am usually known as the brave Guan Yu and Zhang Liao. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to emulate Zhang Liao's story in my old age. I and my son will be the vanguard and lead the crowd to attack the enemy!"

Yin Gong said: "I was the one who brought up this matter, so naturally I will lead the charge, and Generals Zhou and Li will support us in the city."

"General Yin is surprised by what he said. The king has ordered that the commander-in-chief should not rush into battle lightly. Now that General Yin is the commander-in-chief of Hefei, how can he easily take risks and ignore the safety of the city? Leave the battle outside the city to me and General Zhou."

The three men argued back and forth, and Zhou Qiu and Li Feng both refused to let Yin Gong go into battle, saying that the commander-in-chief should not act rashly.

Yin Gong had no choice but to compromise in the end, but he drew out three hundred elite cavalry from the old army in Jianghuai to fight together with Zhou Qiu and Li Feng.

Zhou Qiu and Li Feng each selected 300 elite soldiers, all of whom were cavalry.

These nine hundred cavalrymen were almost all the cavalry in the city. The three men mobilized all the cavalrymen in order to catch the enemy off guard, to boost their morale, to make the subsequent battle to defend the city easier, and also to hit the morale of the Wei army.

However, the Wei army was no longer the Wei army that had been in Hefei city three hundred years ago.

This time, they were the ones attacking the city.

(End of this chapter)