Chapter Forty-Eight: The Comeback

In August 383 AD, the former Qin Emperor Fu Jian ordered his younger brother Fu Rong to lead Liang Cheng, Murong Chui and other generals and 250,000 cavalry as the vanguard, from Xiangyang to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and then sent troops from Chang'an, personally led a hundred civil and military officials, and led more than 600,000 infantry and 270,000 cavalry to follow up, leaving the prince Fu Hong in Chang'an to supervise the country. He also ordered Yao Chang, Pei Yuanluo and others to lead 80,000 sailors to go east from Yizhou down the river, straight to Jianye, and the former Qin army went all the way south, covering the sun with a banner and stretching for thousands of miles.

The news that Fu Jiantong led a million troops into Jiangnan soon spread to Jianye, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Sima Yao hurriedly convened the ministers to discuss countermeasures, and the ministers knew that the military situation was urgent, such as hot pot ants, from time to time to turn heads and ears, but no one played, at this time, there was a person who played unhurriedly: "The emperor is not in a hurry, Yanzhou assassin Xie Xuan has been training in Beifu (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) for many years, and he can be ordered to take 80,000 soldiers from Beifu to the north to defend against the enemy." ”

Sima Yao was overjoyed when he heard that a minister was playing, and he looked at it fixedly, and the planner was Xie Xuanzhi's uncle Xie An, who not only remembered his father Sima Yu's last words to him: "Although Xie An has lived in seclusion in Dongshan for many years and resigned many times, it is caused by the chaos of Huan Wen. ”

Sima Yao thought to himself: Xie An is quite prestigious, nearly forty years old, before he became a subordinate of Huan Wen, for the protection of the country, the wisdom of Huan Wen, made great contributions, and now the country is in danger, he can be used to preside over military affairs. Then he said: "Xie Aiqing has a very high reputation, and the children of the family are also handsome. ”

The ministers said one after another: "What the emperor said is very true, Lord Xie is worthy of this position!" ”

The Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Sima Yao saw that Xie An had no objection, and immediately withdrew from the dynasty.

Xie Xuan received the edict in Beifu and thought: Although my Beifu soldiers are brave, Fu Jian's army is more than ten times more than my after all, could it be that my uncle still has other strategies? Thinking of this, Xie Xuan hurriedly rushed to Xie An's mansion and asked about the strategy, Xie An looked calm, his face was fearless, and when he saw Xie Xuan coming to ask for a plan, he said slowly: "The virtuous nephew will lead the troops first, and the court has made other arrangements!" ”

After that, Xie An went back to the inner hall to rest, Xie Xuan didn't know what he meant, and it was not good to ask again, so he had to rush back to the barracks, lead the troops first, and let his friend Zhang Xuan go to Xie An's mansion to ask for advice when he left, but Zhang Xuan came to Xie An's mansion, just when Xie An went to his Jianye suburban villa to gather with relatives and friends, Zhang Xuan had to go to the villa to visit, but just in time for Xie An to lead everyone to play, the interest was strong, Zhang Xuan had to wait in the living room, after a long time, Xie An came back, before Zhang Xuan could speak, Xie An opened his mouth and smiled: "Zhang Xuan, I know that your chess skills are exquisite, and I have played with you several times, but I have not tasted victory, and now you are just right, and I will learn again. ”

Zhang Xuan didn't obey, and then sat down to play against Xie An, Zhang Xuan knew his intention to come here, so he naturally had no intention of playing chess, and soon lost to Xie An, Xie An laughed, got up and left, and took relatives and friends to climb the mountain to play, Zhang Xuan saw Xie An leaving, and didn't know how to speak, so he had to sit alone in the living room in a daze.

It wasn't until night fell that Xie An returned, seeing that Zhang Xuan was still there, Xie An laughed and said: "I have ordered Hu Bin to lead the naval army of 5,000 to reinforce Shouyang (now Shou County, Anhui), Huan Chong for the Jiangzhou Assassin History, led 100,000 troops to prevent the Yizhou Qin army from going east along the river, you immediately told Xie Xuan, quickly lead the troops to the west, occupy a favorable terrain, and prevent Fu Jian from advancing southward. ”

Zhang Xuan didn't dare to delay, and hurried back to Xie Xuan's camp and told Xie An everything. Xie Xuan had secretly thought that this battle should be based on sticking to the tired enemy, and then waiting for the opportunity to enter the army, and when he heard what Zhang Xuan said, he led his troops to the front line quickly.

At this time, Shi Huanchong, the assassin of Jiangzhou, heard that the situation was critical, so he allocated 3,000 elite soldiers to rush to Jianye to increase the defense of the capital. Xie An climbed the city wall and personally shouted to the soldiers who rushed to the outer city of Jianye: "I have arranged the garrison of the capital, and I will return to Jiangzhou as soon as possible!" The generals did not dare to delay, rushed back to Jiangzhou, and told Huan Chong of Xie An's words, Huan Chong was worried, and said to the generals: "Xie Gong's bearing is indeed admirable, but he can only talk and does not know how to lead the troops, seeing that the Qin soldiers are about to cross the river, they are still leisurely, the soldiers in the capital are few generals, and the front-line generals are young and inexperienced, and we are not far from the day of capture!"

In mid-October of the same year, Fu Jian's brother Fu Rong sent Murong Chui to lead his troops to attack Yuncheng (now Anlu, Hubei), and he personally led a large army to attack Shouyang.

At this time, Hu Bin, who was ordered to lead the naval army to aid Shouyang, learned halfway that Shouyang had been broken by Furong, and then going to Shouyang was undoubtedly hitting the stone with an egg, so he had to retreat to Kipshi (now Fengtai, Anhui) and prepare to join Xie Xuan's army. Fu Rong took advantage of the victory to lead the army to attack Kipshi, and ordered Liang Cheng to lead 50,000 troops to attack Luojian (now Huainan, Anhui), blocking Xie Xuan's westward march and cutting off Hu Bin's way back to the east.

Hu Bin was trapped in Kip Stone at this time, the grain and grass were exhausted, and he knew that it was difficult to support, so he wrote a letter to Xie Xuan to tell him about the emergency, and Luojian was soon captured by Liang Cheng, and the messenger was captured by Liang Cheng's soldiers.

After Fu Rong saw the letter, he immediately reported to the former Qin Emperor Fu Jian: the Jin army was trapped with few soldiers, there was a shortage of food and grass, and reinforcements were blocked, and suggested that Fu Jian quickly lead the army south to prevent the Jin army from escaping. Fu Jian was overjoyed to receive a report in Xiangcheng, but hundreds of thousands of troops had not yet gathered, so Fu Jian ordered all the armies to converge in Xiangcheng, and he personally led 8,000 cavalry to Shouyang to join Fu Rong.

At this time, what should Xie Xuan and his 80,000 Beifu soldiers do when they advance westward, please see the next chapter.