Chapter 531 Guessed Right, But Not Completely Right

Jiangdong, Jianye.

Of the hundreds of thousands of troops that set out, less than 20,000 were left, and the emperor himself vomited blood and fainted.

After returning to Jianye, Cao Yan, who was lying on his sickbed, immediately summoned his younger brother, King Wu Cao Rong, and appointed him as prime minister, recorder of the Secretariat, and commander-in-chief of all military forces at home and abroad.

Cao Yan's voice was weak. The defeat had completely drained away his energy and spirit.

"Erlang, in times of emergency, you should take care of yourself."

Cao Rong could only cry bitterly in front of his sickbed, saying: "I dare not not try my best to serve the country."

Cao Yan entrusted all the military and political power to his brother Cao Rong. As he said, in times of emergency, he could only give this power to his brother Cao Rong, hoping that he could turn the tide.

Because he knew that he couldn't do these things.

Cao Rong had advised his brother to march north, but he knew that he could not persuade him. The reason was that even if he wanted to live in peace in Jiangdong, he had to take down the Huaihe River defense line, because to defend the Jiang River, he had to defend the Huai River.

From the beginning, the Eastern Wei regime only had the Jiangzuo area. Although Minyue and Lingnan expressed their submission, it had no actual control over them.

They didn't even have actual control over Yuzhang, let alone Jingzhou and Yizhou in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Fortunately, Jingzhou was not in the hands of the Tang Dynasty before, but since last year, the Tang Dynasty, under pressure from all sides, first destroyed the Western Wei and took Jingzhou, and was able to completely control the Yangtze River. This was a very dangerous situation for the Eastern Wei.

Cao Yan hoped that this Northern Expedition would push the front line to the Huai River and resolve the threat posed by the Tang army to Jianye, but his plan failed.

Now we can only hope to recapture Cai Shi, then defend Jingkou and repel the enemy with the Yangtze River defense line.

So Cao Rong mobilized almost all the troops he could, with 30,000 soldiers, and set out from Jianye to retake Cai Shi.

At this time, the Tang army had assembled more than 4,000 troops in Caishi.

In addition to the more than 1,000 elite troops led by Fu Weixue and Yu Pinghai, Li Baishi dispatched Yangzhou Military Adjutant Feng Zongyi to lead 2,000 county soldiers, and Huainan County Commandant Deng Youde to lead 800 county soldiers to support Cai Shi.

These two armies enabled the Tang army to gain a foothold in Jiangzuo and successively defeated several Eastern Wei troops that attempted to counterattack.

This time, Cao Rong drew out most of the garrisons in Jingkou and Jianye, and temporarily recruited many new soldiers and powerful troops before leading his army to Caishi.

Although the 30,000 Wei troops' attack on Cai Shi was massive, it was a land battle and the 4,000 Tang troops did not defend the camp but went out of the camp to fight in battle array.

With 4,000 troops against 30,000, the Wei army was unable to win despite the extremely weak Tang army. The next day, the Tang army's general Fu Weixue rode into the battle line alone, killed more than ten Wei soldiers, and then went out again. Seeing their commander so brave, the Tang army's morale was greatly boosted. Feng Zongyi and Deng Youde also led their elite troops to launch a fierce attack. The Wei army's morale was already low due to the defeat, and they could not withstand the fierce attack of the Tang army and could only retreat again and again.

Fu Weixue wanted to launch a pursuit and attack all the way to Jianye City, but Li Bao dismounted and pulled his reins, then asked, "Did the commander forget the general's order?"

The general was referring to General Zhendong Li Yaoshi. The military order he gave to Fu Weixue and others was to defend Cai Shi and not to take the initiative to attack Jianye.

What I mean is that I don’t care whether you can fight or not, but you just can’t fight.

Feng Zongyi and Deng Youde also advised him and took out the military order from Li Baishi, the governor of Yangzhou. It made no difference that they could not take the initiative to attack Jianye. Only then did Fu Weixue give up.

Li Yaoshi and Li Baishi were both people who knew how to exercise restraint. The decision to capture Jianye had to be made by the King of Qi himself.

No matter who gets it, it will be infinite glory and success. The failure of the Caishi Battle also made Cao Rong finally realize the seriousness of the problem. The Eastern Wei Dynasty has no future.

When Cao Rong returned to Jianye, he received the bad news that the emperor himself was on his deathbed.

Cao Rong quickly entered the palace, and after seeing Cao Yan, he heard his last words, "Don't bring shame to the late emperor," and then he died.

Cao Yan's last will was to pass the throne to his brother Cao Rong.

However, Cao Rong kept the death a secret, because the national mourning at this time would cause the Eastern Wei to collapse immediately.

It's so stormy.

The throne at that time was not so easy to sit on. Even Cao Rong himself avoided it.

The entire Eastern Wei court was also in a state of panic, fearing that the Tang army would attack.

After completely wiping out the remaining Wei troops in northern Jiangsu, Li Yaoshi joined forces with Lu Qin and stationed in Liyang, waiting on the north bank of the Yangtze River without making any move.

On the other hand, Li Yuanhui prepared a large number of transport ships for Zhu Yuanzhang, so the army moved very quickly. From the Yellow River into the Bian River all the way south, all the troops were transported by water. However, they did not take the route of Yingshui into the Huai River and then landed in Huainan, but took the route of Xuzhou Pengcheng and went directly to Guangling via the canal.

His target was Jingkou.

He did not plan to gather all the troops in Liyang and go to Caishi, but instead planned to cross the river from Jingkou and then meet up with Li Yaoshi, Lu Qin and others at the foot of Jianye city.

This time, Li Yuanhui gave him an army of 60,000 and also transferred the Qingzhou navy to his service, in order to allow him to quickly destroy the Eastern Wei, preserve the essence of Jiangzuo, and relieve the pressure on Luoyang.

At the same time, Jiangdong must be taken over, and the Jingzhou Army representing the court must not be allowed to steal the credit and territory.

On the other side, in Jiangling City, Jin Wang Li Chenghui, Sima Xiuye, Yang Sui, Li Daliang, Zhang Pinggao and others were on the city wall, watching the various naval ships on the river forming and assembling.

Li Chenghui was sixteen years old. He wore a round-necked robe and a bun, looking like a nobleman. He looked at the boats on the river and said, "Mr. Li, I wonder how many boats and troops are gathered in Jiangling now?"

Upon hearing this, Li Daliang, the governor of Jingzhou, said, "Reporting to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, most of the naval forces of Xiangzhou have already assembled. The army of Jingzhou, Xiangzhou, Dengzhou and Guanzhong totals more than 60,000 soldiers and more than 500 warships. The naval forces of Shuzhong set out from upstream. General Liu Zhenghui sent a message saying that it would take half a month to assemble and prepare weapons and food, and it would take ten days to march. It will probably arrive in mid-October."

Li Chenghui nodded upon hearing this, and then said, "In your opinion, should we wait until the army from Shu joins us, or should we go ahead and join Uncle Wang's army?"

Zhang Pinggao said, "I think Your Highness should lead the army as soon as possible. Cai Shi has been occupied by our army. Li Yaoshi and Lu Qin can lead the army across the river to Jianye at any time. If we wait until the army in Shu is assembled, I am afraid we will be too late."

Sima Xiuye ​​also said: "I also think that we should set out as soon as possible and not waste time in Jingzhou. We should reach Jianghuai as soon as possible and join forces with the various armies."

Li Daliang said: "I second the proposal."

Only Zu Junyan said, "I think Your Highness is not in a hurry. Last year, Your Majesty, as the commander-in-chief, prepared for the war to destroy the Western Wei for half a year, and gathered the national strength of the Tang Dynasty and used troops for several months. Now there are only tens of thousands of troops under the command of the King of Qi in Jianghuai, but the Eastern Wei has been established for more than ten years, and the father and son of the Cao family are also popular. How can they be conquered in a month? Moreover, Jingkou is still in the hands of the Wei army, and Jianye is a strong city with the Yangtze River as a shield. After my Tang Dynasty destroyed the Western Wei last year, it is said that the Northern Han and the Eastern Wei strengthened their city defenses. I am afraid that it will take several months just to attack the city. Your Highness can wait for the army from Shuzhong to come here. A total of 100,000 troops and thousands of warships will go down the river! The Eastern Wei will surely surrender at the sight of the enemy."

Duke Yang Sui of Yue did not speak because he found it difficult to judge the war situation in Jianghuai at the moment, so he did not speak.

Li Chenghui, who made the decision, thought about the magnificent scene of the army of Shu joining together and marching out with 100,000 troops, so he said: "Aye told me in the past that we should not rush to use troops, so let's wait a little longer."

(End of this chapter)