Chapter 534: Siege of Jianye
Zhu Deyu boarded a large Wuya ship and left Guazhou Du Shuizhai. Hundreds of Tang army ships also rushed forward with him. Upstream, Lu Qin also led a fleet downstream. The two teams entered the battlefield on the river from two directions respectively.

The reinforcements led by Lu Qin directly intercepted the reinforcements of the Wei army, while the headquarters led by Zhu Deyu was the main force that truly changed the situation on the battlefield.

The two sides fought fiercely until sunset in the afternoon, when the Tang navy completely defeated the Wei navy and took the opportunity to attack the Jingkou water fort and the entrance of the canal.

As for the fighting after landing, it was basically one-sided, and the important town of Jingkou did not even last two days.

The Tang army attacked the city overnight. The torches illuminated the city as if it were daytime. The Tang army general, General Youwuwei and Duke of Huainan, Chang Yanheng, led the team to climb the city wall under the cover of a rain of arrows. Wang Bi and a group of former elite soldiers from the Huaiyuan Camp followed closely behind. They attacked the top of the city wall in one go and gained a firm foothold. Then a large number of Tang soldiers rushed onto the city wall.

If the two sides could still fight back and forth in the surface battle, after the close combat on the city wall, the Tang army and the Wei army were completely on two levels.

What's more, there was a fierce general like Chang Yanheng leading the team personally, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and Wang Bi behind him was holding two swords. After the two of them went up to the city, they were like tigers among a flock of sheep, raising waves of blood mist.

Zhu Deyu personally beat the drum to cheer on the troops at the foot of the city. Tang He, Hu Kuohai, Tang Yun and other fierce generals from Huaixi also went up to the city walls to fight. The Wei army could not resist and was finally defeated.

The Tang army took the important town of Jingkou in one day. In this battle, the last elite navy of the Wei army was almost completely wiped out. Some scattered ships took advantage of the chaos to escape to unknown places, but they could no longer cause any waves.

Jingkou's main general, General Miao Che, was killed in battle, his deputy general Liu Renshan was killed, and a number of generals were captured. The Tang army captured more than 10,000 enemies, but the number of beheadings could not be counted because a large number of corpses were in the river.

After the Eastern Wei army was attacked by the enemy troops from two directions and crossed the river to the south, the prime minister and King of Wu, Cao Rong, also made a quick decision.

He ordered General Lu Gongren, General Wang Bozhong, and General Chen Guangda to be commanders-in-chief and be in charge of the city defense. General Li Shu led the navy to hold Baixia and resist the Tang army.

In the following days, General Zhang Jian of the Right Guard led ten Zhechoufu to capture Qu'a to block the northern aid of the Wei army in the Three Wu areas. Zhu Deyu led the main force to continue advancing towards Jiankang, while Li Yaoshi defeated the Wei army, occupied Gusu, and went straight down the river to Jiankang.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Zhu Deyu stationed at Baitugang, south of Zhongshan Mountain, and Xiao Shizhi led his troops to Xinlin.

Chang Yanheng's army led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to fight a fierce battle with the army of Li Shu, the former general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, at Baixia.

In this battle, Chang Yanheng rode into the battle line alone and killed dozens of enemies. Wang Bi led hundreds of elite cavalry to respond in time, killing the Wei army and making them lose their courage. Chang Yanheng even assassinated Li Shu, the main general of the Wei army, with a single spear on the battlefield. As a result, the Wei army was defeated and fled.

The Tang army took advantage of the situation and occupied Shitou City.

Since then, the Tang army has basically completed the occupation of the outer outposts of Jianye and completely surrounded the Eastern Wei capital Jianye.

At this time, the army of Jingzhou had just set out from Jiangling.

In fact, neither Zhu Deyu nor Li Yaoshi expected that this battle could be won so easily.

The Tang army was almost unstoppable along the way, without much resistance. Zhu Deyu also strictly ordered his soldiers to harass the enemy for a while and treat the surrendered people well.

As for the root cause, Cao and his son were not incompetent rulers, but the cost of years of northern expeditions had to be borne by the people of Jiangdong in the end.

Therefore, the taxes in Jiangdong were actually quite heavy, and the casualties in each Northern Expedition were also heavy. The people were also unwilling to fight. The Tang army did not burn, kill, or loot when they came, so they naturally would not be stupid enough to pick up hoes to resist the elite Tang army that even the Wei army could not defeat.

What picture?

On the other hand, all the elite troops of Jiangdong were killed in the Battle of Ruxu, and the last navy of the Eastern Wei was also defeated in Jingkou, leaving no soldiers available.

It's not just about gathering young men and giving them weapons to make them soldiers.

The elite troops of the Wei army were already in battle and could hardly resist the Tang army, not to mention the peasants who were temporarily recruited. But even so, Jianye was still armed. Cao Rong ordered his men to open the armory and recruit the men in the city to help defend the city.

At this time, Li Chenghui, the Grand Marshal of the Tang Dynasty's expedition to the south and the Prince of Jin, had just set out from Jiangling and had not yet reached Xiakou, which was a thousand miles away from Jianye.

The royal family members sent by Li Yuanhui hurried all the way to Guangling by boat.

Before departure, Li Cheng'an was appointed General of the Southern Expedition, Li Chengqian was appointed Chief of the Jiangnan Road, Li Chengtai was the Minister of the Jiangdong Office, Li Yanzong was the Protector of the Southern Expedition, and Li Changgong was the Chief of the Huainan Road.
Only Li Chengping and Li Chengdao of the Prince of Qi's Palace had no official positions.

However, although the official positions of these royal family members sound impressive, they are just official positions and have no real power.

First, he has no subordinates; second, he has no assistants; third, he has no imperial edicts, or tiger seals.

Li Yuanhui had them here purely to gain experience. At the same time, the official positions of these people were all granted by imperial decree from the King of Qi. They were not formal official positions, and there was no verification and approval from the three ministries of the imperial court. He just let them come here under a banner to form a battlefield observation group.

After these young men arrived in Guangling, Zhu Deyu heard about it and immediately ordered Xu Qiande, who was the most reliable in handling matters, to lead 800 soldiers and five large ships to the other side to bring back the three princes and four dukes.

When the army that set out from Jiangling reached Jiangxia, they heard that the armies from the east and west had set out together and broke through the important towns, strongholds and garrison cities outside Jianye, such as Gusu and Jingkou.

Li Chenghui then felt a sense of urgency, and at the same time, he sent a military order from the Marshal's Office to the troops on the front line, asking them to stop and wait for the main army to join him.

Of course, the document would have to say some polite words, such as we are worried that you are advancing too fast, so you just need to stop and wait for reinforcements to arrive and then we can attack together.

Anyway, the core meaning is that the water in Jianye is too deep, you can't control it, wait for me.

The military officer Zu Junyan comforted Li Chenghui, saying, "Don't be anxious, Your Highness. The King of Qi is not in the army. The generals under Jianye City have no backbone and will certainly not dare to disobey the order of the Marshal's Office."

Li Chenghui was skeptical. Can my fourth uncle's men really listen to me? Then he asked the chief historian Sima Xiuye.

Sima Xiuye ​​said, "The Prince of Qi is deeply loved by the army. All the generals under his command were selected by him personally. They have always only recognized the Prince of Qi's edicts, not the emperor's orders. Without the Prince of Qi's approval, Taizong and the current emperor cannot command the generals in Luoyang. Where does Zu Canjun get his confidence from?"

After hearing this, Zu Junyan turned pale. Li Chenghui asked, "What should we do now?"

Sima Xiuye ​​sighed, "We can only hope that Jianye can resist a little longer and hold out until His Highness's banner reaches the city."

Li Chenghui was angry and annoyed, but he smiled and said, "Why bother? No matter who enters the city first, I am still the Grand Marshal of Pingnan."

However, the smile soon disappeared because the military report from Guangling brought the news of the arrival of Li Chengan and others.

After seeing the official positions of these cousins, Li Chenghui did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"My fourth uncle is really something. He never takes any loss. It's really not easy to reap the fruits he planted."

Sima Xiuye ​​shook his head repeatedly, "The Prince of Qi's trick of passing off fakes as real ones has made all your Majesty's preparations go to waste, Your Highness."

Li Chenghui smiled carefreely and said, "Don't worry, Lord Wen. I understand. Dong Wei is Fourth Uncle's old rival. The upstream and the other side are all controlled by Fourth Uncle. This trip will not be in vain. There is a long way to go."

Sima Xiuye ​​was a little surprised. This kid seemed to be a man who could handle things well. Given time, he might not be able to defeat the King of Qi.

(End of this chapter)