Chapter 526: North-South attack
"General Xu?"

"General Yin?"

Xu Qiande and Yin Gong spoke almost at the same time, and then they both burst into laughter. They both understood what the other meant.

The more than 100,000 Wei troops under the city of Hefei are the main force of Jiangdong. If we can annihilate this Wei army, the destruction of Eastern Wei will be just around the corner.

As long as they can hold back the Wei army, wait for Li Yaoshi and others to arrive with the main force, and add Lu Qin's navy at Ruxukou, this battle will have great potential.

If it succeeds, it will be an unprecedented achievement.

After everyone reached a consensus, Yin Gong ordered Li Feng and several hundred members of the Li family to defend the city, and the rest of them went out of the city to pursue.

Xu Qiande led the Pengri army, Yin Gong, Zhou Qiu and Li Feng's brother Li Zhang led 6,000 defenders of Hefei to pursue the Wei army.

The Wei army naturally had a rear guard. Right General Zhu Song and Fenwu General Liu Renshan led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses at the back to protect the entire army.

They had thought that the Tang army would send troops to pursue them, but they did not expect that the pursuing army would fight so fiercely.

The Japanese army and the Hefei defenders formed a pincer attack, and the two armies advanced side by side.

The troops under Zhu Song and Liu Renshan were considered elite troops of Jiangdong and had been well-trained, but they were still unable to withstand the fierce Tang army.

For a while, he was beaten back repeatedly.

However, Zhu Song and Liu Renshan had some military spirit. Although the Jiangdong troops were defeated, they were not completely defeated. The two of them personally went into battle, beheaded the defeated soldiers, and boosted morale. This is why the rear guard army did not collapse.

After a series of fierce attacks, Xu Qiande and Yin Gong began to slow down their offensive considering that they had consumed a lot of physical strength.

Zhu Song and Liu Renshan did not dare to relax their vigilance and continued to fight while retreating.

At this time, the Tang army took advantage of its organized cavalry and frequently harassed the Wei army's rear troops, forcing the Wei army to remain vigilant at all times on the way of retreat, not daring to relax or slow down their marching speed.

Because once the march speed is increased, the formation will inevitably be out of consideration. Under the watchful eyes of the Tang cavalry, if the Wei army dares to slack off, they will inevitably be rushed to pieces by the Tang cavalry. At that time, even gods will be unable to save them.

Therefore, Zhu Song and Liu Renshan's rear guard troops retreated to the edge of Chaohu Lake, and then they breathed a sigh of relief, because their boats were right by the lake and they could just board the boats and leave. The Tang army's pursuing troops were all infantry and cavalry, and Chaohu Lake was currently controlled by the Wei army's navy.

But the Tang army that followed them put their wishful thinking to shame. As long as they were given an hour, they could complete most of the boarding.

But if you want to board the ship now, you can, but you have to defeat the Tang army first.

Everyone wants to get on board, and no one wants to be the last one.

Because we were at the lake, the boat was there. But to our despair, the Tang army was also here.

Yin Gong and Xu Qiande did not give the Wei army any time to react. They immediately launched a strong attack on the Eastern Wei army, one from the south and one from the north.

The Tang army advanced like a wall, and the front died one after another, constantly compressing the space of the Wei army. Zhou's father and son led the cavalry to roam on the side, looking for opportunities to flank the Wei army.

Finally, they found an opportunity. The dense arrows of the Tang army's archers covered the flank of the formation, and dozens of hedgehogs appeared on the flank.

Zhou Qiu immediately led his troops to charge, and rushed into the battle array through the gap. He killed the Wei army one after another with his spear, and the armored cavalry behind him relied on the impact of their horses to penetrate.

The Wei army finally couldn't hold on any longer and suffered a partial defeat. Even though Zhu Song and Liu Renshan brought their personal guards to fill the gap and killed many deserters, they were still unable to reverse the situation.

The strength of the two sides was almost the same. With this comparison, they were able to hold out for half a day against the elite Tang army. But once the defeat was overwhelming, even Han Baiwei and Huo could not save them.

The rear of the Wei army began to flee, trying to turn back and escape to the ship, while the front team also fell into defeat as they retreated step by step.

The Tang army became more and more courageous as the battle went on. Their offensive was like a tide, and they constantly pushed the front line forward.

The defeated soldiers of the Eastern Wei army scrambled to flee to their own battlefield, fighting and trampling on each other, some even wielding swords at their comrades in order to escape. In order to prevent those who boarded the boat later, the first person to do so directly drew his sword and cut off the fingers of the climbing soldiers. In the end, all the severed fingers on the boat could be picked up at will.

Liu Renshan successfully boarded the ship and escaped under the protection of his personal guards. However, the right general Zhu Songze, who was well-armored and had many guards, was captured alive by the Wei army.

Of the 10,000 Wei soldiers who were at the rear, only less than 2,000 managed to board the ship and escape, and more than 3,000 surrendered. The rest were killed by the Tang army or trampled upon by each other.

It was impossible for the Wei army, with more than 100,000 soldiers including the civilians, to escape by boat. The rear guard was almost wiped out, and many Wei troops retreated around both sides of Chaohu Lake towards Ruxukou. After a brief rest, the Tang army continued their pursuit.

The Wei army could only fight and retreat, guarding against surprise attacks by the Tang cavalry. As a result, the marching speed became very slow.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of elite Tang troops were marching at a normal speed along the Feishui River north of Hefei. However, when Li Yaoshi learned that Fu Weixue had attacked Caishi and that Lu Qin had led his troops to block Ruxukou, he immediately ordered the entire army to abandon almost all baggage and only carry a few days' worth of dry food. All troops were lightly equipped and marched at full speed. He also gave all cavalry, about 3,000 people, to the right commander of the Tianwu Army, Yang Xianguo, and the general of the imperial court, Lan Yu, to lead the army.

"We must hold on to the Eastern Wei army and not let them escape!"

Li Yaoshi's battlefield sense is naturally not inferior to Xu Qiande and Yin Gong. The temptation to annihilate the main force of the Wei army is too great. He must fight with all his strength.

Late at night, Cao Yan, the emperor of Eastern Wei, was in the camp outside Juchao City. He shook his head repeatedly as he looked at the battle report in front of him. At this time, there was only Cao Yan and Lu Gongren, who was sitting opposite him, in the tent.

The two men were very clear about the current situation. There were powerful enemies in front and pursuers behind. The Tang army in Hefei could be said to be close to madness, and continued to pursue without regard for the consequences. This made Cao Yan and Lu Gongren realize that the purpose of this Tang army of about tens of thousands of people was to delay the Wei army.

This proves that the Tang army is already on the way.

In the last Ruxu war, although the Eastern Wei repelled the Tang navy in the naval battle, this does not mean that the Eastern Wei navy is necessarily stronger than the Tang navy. In fact, although Lu Qin returned to support in time last year, he participated in the battle to take back Jingzhou, and his troops were tired, so they barely managed to draw.

But now the Tang army navy has been repairing in Pengze Lake for almost a year, recuperating and recovering from the battle losses.

At this time, the morale of the army was at its high level, while the Wei army had been unable to advance an inch at the gates of Hefei for more than 20 days, and its morale was greatly depleted.

Now we are being attacked from both the north and the south.

The Tang army behind him was so formidable that the main force would not be less than tens of thousands of people, and they should be the elite troops from Luoyang under Li Yuanhui.

Lu Qin's navy was something that even Cao Yuanjing, the former emperor of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, would call a victim.

Under this situation, the Wei army was actually trapped in a north-south encirclement. The only way to survive was to abandon all the infantry and civilians, lead the navy while Ruxukou was still in the hands of the Wei army, and quickly break through the outer Tang navy.

Otherwise, if it drags on, the whole army will most likely be wiped out.

This is also Lu Gongren’s suggestion, to cut off one’s own arm.

But Cao Yan was unable to make such a decision. This was not a heroic act of self-sacrifice, but directly chopping off half of his body.

Seeing the emperor's demeanor, Lu Gongren could only sigh and say, "If your majesty is unwilling to abandon the various tribes, then you can only stand here and fight the Tang army."

Cao Yan said: "Then let's fight. Our Wei army has more than 100,000 soldiers. Don't we have the strength to fight?"

Lu Gongren was silent. The strength to fight? How come your father is not as good as you?
(End of this chapter)