Chapter 527: A Battle of Life and Death

The people of Jiangdong do not seem to lack bravery, but when faced with the mighty north, they always feel that they are lacking in courage.

Throughout the six dynasties, almost all the brave men who were determined to fight the Northern Expedition were from Jiangbei.

More than 300 years ago in the Eastern Wu, Sun Quan's Northern Expedition always relied on the warriors of Huai and Si.

People in Jiangdong seem to have always lacked the spirit of advancement. Although Cao and his son were born in Danyang, Jiangdong, their ancestral home was the Cao family of Qiao County, so they could be considered people from Jiangbei.

The troops under their command mainly came from Jiangdong.

As he had never been able to occupy Huainan, he naturally had no way of getting the support of the Huainan warriors. It was considered Cao Yan's good fortune that he could reach the wall of Hefei by relying on the Jiangdong people to march north.

His father Cao Yuanjing led five northern expeditions, and was defeated every time he faced the Tang or Yan armies.

Last year, while the Tang Dynasty was at war on all sides and its defense was weak, and the Eastern Wei army had been recuperating for many years, and with the help of Cao Yan himself, they successively broke through Ruxu Fort and the East and West Passes, achieving the greatest victory of the Eastern Wei's Northern Expedition.

This made the entire Eastern Wei Dynasty see the dawn of hope for the Northern Expedition.

The reason why the Northern Expedition had to continue this year was because the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Han in the north was still ongoing. Even if some reinforcements could be sent, Li Yuanhui himself and his main force would not be able to come to the Jianghuai battlefield.

In fact, this Northern Expedition was a bit reckless, but Cao Yan only knew that time was running out, and the longer it dragged on, the more beneficial it would be for the Tang Dynasty.

In the current situation, the Wei army is facing a pincer attack from the north and south by the Tang army. In Lu Gongren's opinion, the best option in this situation is to quickly withdraw the navy while Ruxukou is still in their hands, and as for the infantry, as many as possible can leave.

Cao Yan also knew that doing so would severely damage the vitality of the Wei Dynasty, but if he didn't do so, he would have to stay here and fight the Tang army to the death. Facing the elite Tang army in the land battle in Jiangbei, and the siege of the Jiangdong navy in the Yangtze River, if the Wei Dynasty lost this battle, it would face the destruction of the country.

But the land marching army consisted of more than 100,000 civilians and infantry. How could Cao Yan make the decision to give up?
Moreover, if we abandon these elite soldiers and troops, will the Tang army be able to defend Jiangdong with only tens of thousands of naval forces left when it moves south? It will also be a situation where the country will be destroyed in one battle.

Therefore, the Eastern Wei had no choice; they had to win this battle in order to survive.

Cao Yan pushed away the battle reports on the table. There was no good news in them. Then he stood up and walked to the map.

Ruxu called for help, Liu Renshan was defeated, Zhu Song was captured, Caishiji was lost, and now the Tang army behind them was holding on to the Wei army tightly and refusing to let go.

I guess the elite Northern Army coming to support the Tang Dynasty should be very close.
Lu Gongren said: "If we want to fight a decisive battle with the Tang army, we should retreat to the Ruxu Mountain line and make arrangements. We should leave some troops in Juchao to stop the Tang army from pursuing us and buy time for our army to set up camp and battle array."

After listening to this, Cao Yan nodded. He knew that this was the most reliable strategy at present. Chaohu Lake is forty miles south of Ruxuwu. Only Ruxu Mountain and Qibao Mountain stand on both sides of Ruxu River, which can be considered a dangerous obstacle. There are also two east and west passes that can be used as a support for fighting against the Tang army.

As for engaging in a frontal battle with the Tang army on the plains, both of them knew that this would be self-destruction.

Yang Xianguo and Lan Yu led more than 2,000 cavalrymen and finally met up with the pursuing Xu Qiande and Yin Gong's troops before the 20th after a continuous march. After learning about the situation of the Wei army, they made a short rest, fed the horses with fine feed and salt, and joined forces with the 800 cavalrymen in Hefei, forming a total of 3,000 cavalrymen, to attack the rear of the Wei army.

The cavalry led by Yang Xianguo and Lan Yu were all elite troops from various units of the Northern Army. The 900 cavalry from Hefei also suffered losses after these days of fighting, and the remaining 800 cavalry could be considered elite.

Yang Xianguo divided all 3,000 cavalry into ten teams, each led by a strong general, and took turns attacking, like a group of wolves, taking turns to bite the slow-moving elephant of the Eastern Wei army.

Elephants are huge in size, with thick skin and flesh, so every attack by the wolf cannot cause fatal injuries to the elephant, let alone kill it with one bite.

But every attack by the wolf inflicts another wound on the elephant.

If the elephants are allowed to be harassed and chased like this, they will sooner or later be consumed and killed by the wolves.

The Wei army's huge marching force was also constantly losing men. Every attack by the Tang cavalry caused the Wei army to feel psychological collapse and physical devastation.

Two consecutive rear guard teams of thousands of people were divided, surrounded, and then eaten by the cavalry. But this also gave the Wei army time. After continuous attrition, the Wei army finally arrived at the East Gate.

At this time, the 120,000-strong Wei army that set out had less than 100,000 men, and the civilians were fleeing everywhere.

Cao Yan ordered the Queen's brother, General of the Eastern Expedition, Duke of Jin Miao Che, to lead the main force of the navy south to Ruxukou in an attempt to expel the Tang navy led by Lu Qin.

Miao Che followed the order and led the main force of 30,000 navy and 700 large and small warships out along the Rushu River. He fought a fierce battle with the Tang navy on the Yangtze River, but failed to win. He lost more than 100 soldiers and thousands of troops on the battlefield.

On the second day, Miao Che reorganized his army and fought again.

Cao Yan's army did not even make it to the east and west gates to set up camp and defense before it was caught up by Li Yaoshi, who led the main force and joined forces with Xu Qiande and Yin Gong.

Cao Yan was still about ten miles away from Ruxu Mountain, and he could already see it vaguely, but the pursuers behind him made him realize what it meant to be so close yet so far away.

The Tang cavalry no longer acted like hunters, taking turns to bite and engage the enemy, but instead formed teams and joined forces to launch an assault on the Wei army.

The majority of the Tang army quickly reorganized after a forced march and immediately launched an attack on the Wei army.

Xie Shufang led most of the Tianwu Army on the left, Liu Fuwei led the Zuoweiwei Liuzhechongfu on the right, and Chen Zhen led the Zuoweiwei Shizhechongfu in the middle. The three armies advanced in unison.

Li Yaoshi, along with Xu Qiande, Yin Gong, Zhou Ben and others, followed behind as a reserve force.

The Left General Lan Yu led a number of elite cavalry to encircle the Eastern Wei army's flank, preparing to launch a side attack.

Yang Xianguo led the cavalry into the battle, wielding the lances in his hands, and killing people without a trace, causing blood to flow like a river. The Wei army was already on the march, and after being charged by the concentrated forces of the Tang cavalry, they had almost no chance to organize a battle formation. The three frontal Tang armies also arrived, and the scene was almost one-sided.

Li Yaoshi was riding on his horse and stopped on a high ground. He saw that the cavalry had already entered the battle line and entangled the Wei army. The troops behind followed closely and started fighting. He felt relieved.

Great thing accomplished.

Li Yaoshi led his troops on a continuous high-intensity march, abandoning all the baggage, just to catch up with the Wei army before they reached Ruxu Mountain.

Now it has finally been done. The enemy has been exhausted by the pursuit of the Tang army in the past two or three days, and all their food and supplies have been abandoned.

The morale of the Tang army grew higher and higher, and the offensives of various units were as swift as the tide, constantly attacking the already fragile defense line of the Wei army.

Lan Yu led hundreds of cavalry to attack the flank, which was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The Eastern Wei army was subsequently defeated.

Yang Xianguo led the cavalry and charged all the way, which was unstoppable. He killed six generals of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and captured 28 high-ranking officials including the assistant ministers, the ministers and the generals.

As well as Wei Lord Cao Yan's cousins, Prince of Taiyuan Cao Lie, and Prince of Qinghe Cao Xu.

As the entire front collapsed, Cao Yan's cronies, including General Ding Hui of the Eastern Wei Cavalry, General Han Ling of the Guards, General Gu Cheng of the Central Army, and Counselor Cui Bian, were all killed in the battle.

Cao Yan and General Lu Gongren, the General of the Northern Expedition, were lucky enough to escape thanks to a desperate battle with their personal guards, and the entire mountain and plain were filled with the defeated Wei army.

When Cao Yan, under the protection of his personal guards, boarded a large ship heading south at Dongguan, he looked back and saw corpses everywhere, defeated soldiers scattered everywhere, and he vomited blood and fainted.

He knew that the Wei Dynasty was finished.

(End of this chapter)