Chapter 525 Delay
Caishiji, also known as "Niuzhuji", stands abruptly in the river, with cliffs overlooking the sky. It is located at the strategic point of the river. The water flows rapidly and the terrain is dangerous. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.

Qin Shihuang passed through this ferry when he toured east to Kuaiji, Danyang, and Qiantang.

In the second year of Xingping in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sun Ce crossed the Hengjiang River and attacked Liu Yao's Niuzhu camp, seizing all the grain and war equipment. Later, Sun Quan sent Sun Yu to move troops from Liyang to Niuzhu. From then on, Caishiji became a military stronghold in Jiangdong.

Corresponding to Caishiji is Liyang on the north bank of the river.

With Right Governor Fu Weixue and Li Bao, who led 800 Japanese troops, and General Yu Pinghai, who led 500 elite troops, marching for several days in the front, they marched all the way from Shouchun, bypassed the Hefei battlefield and went straight to Liyang.

In order to achieve the effect of the surprise attack, Xu Qiande drew out all the war horses from the Japanese army, and asked Li Baishi to requisition most of the war horses from Shouchun, thus gathering a total of 1,300 war horses.

Zhang Hong, the governor of Liyang, was born into the Zhang family of Guangling and was the cousin of Zhang Jian and Zhang Zhen'e. He was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. Compared with his two cousins ​​who were more brave and strong, Zhang Hong was more like a scholar and was very handsome.

When Fu Weixue saw Zhang Hong, he felt as if he had suddenly realized something. Everyone knew that Zhang Jian and Zhang Zhen'e were cousins. One of their sisters was the concubine of the King of Qi, and the other was a second-rank county lady. Both were extremely favored women in the King of Qi's harem.

But although Zhang Jian's appearance is handsome, he has a swallow-like chin, a tiger beard, a leopard head and round eyes, and he has the powerful aura of a warrior. Zhang Zhen'e has an even more unusual appearance. It is difficult to describe both of them as handsome.

But when he saw Zhang Hong, Fu Weixue realized that the ones who looked different from his family members must be the two General Zhangs.

After learning the purpose of their visit, Zhang Hong immediately began to secretly ask people to collect ships.

After sufficient preparations were made, the few of them discussed and set a very unexpected date.

August 15th, Mid-Autumn Night.

The Wei army stationed at Caishi had 3,000 soldiers. But because it was a festive occasion, a banquet was held in the army.
Because of the successive victories on the front line, the defenders of Caishi, a key river defense point, began to slack off. It was a festival, and it was night time. Who would attack at this time?

Taking advantage of the fact that the other side might be careless, Fu Weixue and Yu Pinghai led 500 elite troops in a small boat to cross the Yangtze River, successfully attacked Caishiji and broke into Niuzhu Camp.

Both of them led the charge, holding long swords, and were unstoppable. The elite soldiers behind them were also willing to fight ten to one and risk their own lives.

Seeing the torches lit up on the other side of the river, Zhang Hong and Li Bao in Liyang led their respective troops and crossed the river by boat according to the plan.

Fu Weixue and Yu Pinghai have successfully established a foothold for themselves, and are now resisting the frenzied counterattack of the Wei army.

Yu Pinghai broke four horizontal swords in a row and finally switched to blunt weapons. However, the long-handled broadsword in Fu Weixue's hand, because of its thick back and wide blade, allowed him to continue fighting after killing more than a dozen people.

The 500 men who had advanced had suffered considerable casualties in the face of the Wei army's counterattack, but they still fought to the death.

The Tang army's reinforcements finally arrived and followed Li Bao into the Niuzhu camp.

The Pengri new army was well-trained and had been tempered by the war. At this moment, it was already an elite force. The situation changed immediately after the 800 Pengri new army landed. The Wei army garrison commander Wu Shoujing wanted to push the Tang army back to the river in one go, but the Niuzhu camp, which was usually poorly armed, had never experienced such a battle. Caishiji, who had not experienced war for many years, was still self-righteous and thought that the Tang army should have retreated to the Huai River at this moment under the attack of the Wei army. How did it fight to the left of the river instead?

The fact that Wu Shoujing was able to organize a counterattack shows that he still had some prestige in his daily life. However, facing the elite assault of the Tang army, the Wei army, which had been away from battle for a long time, was still defeated.

The commander-in-chief Wu Shoujing fled in panic with hundreds of remaining soldiers and headed for Danyang.

The Tang army launched a night attack and captured Cai Shi, a key defense point on the Jiangzuo River, at the cost of hundreds of casualties!
For a moment, Jiangdong was shocked.

Even if the Northern Army stationed a million soldiers in Jiangbei, the impact of the fall of Cai Shi would not be greater.

Because this meant that Jiangdong no longer had the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, and had to face the brave and warlike Tang army. Zhang Ke, the right servant of the Eastern Wei Shangshu who was stationed in Wuhu and was responsible for the transportation of food and military supplies, quickly sent someone to deliver the news to Emperor Cao Yan at the front line after learning that Caishi had fallen.

In the upper reaches of the river, the repaired Jiangzhou navy and Chaohu navy assembled 800 warships and 40,000 naval officers and soldiers and marched downstream along the river.

First, they raided Wankou and defeated the powerful army that had defected to Lujiang, killing thousands of enemies. Then they attacked by land and sea, successively breaking through Wanxian and Shicheng. Afterwards, they drove straight to Ruxukou, trying to block the Ruxu River and cut off the Wei army's way back and its food supply.

These bad news were delivered to the city of Hefei one after another. After seeing these two pieces of news, Cao Yan immediately felt some regret.

Liyang was in the hands of the Tang army and could threaten Cai Shi at any time.

Yuzhang was in the hands of the Tang army and could go down the river at any time.

These were all real threats, but he still chose to march north in the face of crisis. There must have been an element of being blinded by victory, but he would never admit that he made a wrong choice.

The Northern Expedition and the revival of the Wei Dynasty were the long-cherished wishes of their father and son.

But the current situation forced him to make a decision and retreat. This kind of news could not be concealed. Once Ruxukou was lost, they would be trapped in Chaohu Lake and caught by the Tang army.

After besieging Hefei for more than 20 days, there was no result at all, which made Cao Yan feel ashamed. But in the current situation, even if Hefei was taken, it would be impossible to continue north to Shouchun. If Cai Shi was lost, Jianye would be in danger.

Originally, the Wei army was attacking Hefei fiercely and the momentum was strong. However, in an instant, with Lu Qin leading the navy to attack and Fu Weixue launching a surprise attack on Caishiji, the offensive and defensive situation changed drastically.

Just as the Wei army was preparing to return home from the city of Hefei, the main force of the Tang army led by Li Yaoshi, Chen Zhen, Liu Fuwei and others also arrived in Shouchun.

At this moment, Li Yaoshi did not know that the Wei army in Hefei had retreated, nor did he know that Caishiji had been captured, but he still ordered his troops to make brief repairs and then quickly march south to provide assistance.

Xu Qiande led 4,200 people and rushed to Hefei to escort the Japanese army.

Although Xu Qiande was the first to propose the plan of a surprise attack on Cai Shi and received strong support from Fu Weixue, the two were dissuaded from their idea by Li Baishi, who advised them that they could use the surprise attack on Cai Shi as a surprise tactic but not send all their main forces to Liyang.

After all, their first priority is to rush to Hefei for assistance.

So Xu Qiande assigned 800 men to Fu Weixue, and Li Baishi also sent Yu Pinghai, an expert in naval warfare, and 500 elite soldiers to them.

After arriving in Hefei, the Wei army had already begun to retreat. After Xu Qiande met up with Yin Gong, he first told them about the sneak attack on Cai Shi.

"Before coming here, Right Commander Fu Weixue and General Yu Pinghai led more than a thousand elite soldiers to Liyang, preparing for a surprise attack on Cai Shi. I saw the Wei army retreat, so I guess the surprise attack was successful!"

After hearing this, Yin Gong said, "General Xu, Lu Gong sent someone to deliver a letter into the city a few days ago, asking Hefei to hold on and not abandon it lightly, and he will lead the main force of the navy down the river soon."

Hearing this, Xu Qiande was also stunned, but then they both understood.

Whether it was Lu Qin leading the navy to cut off the Wei army's retreat route, or Fu Weixue's surprise attack on Cai Shi, one of these two things was successful, and the Tang army's reinforcements were still behind and would arrive in a few days.

And the only thing they have to do now is to bite the Eastern Wei army and hold them back!

(End of this chapter)