Part 6 The benevolent have enemies

Chapter 1: The Battle between the North and the South

Fu Jian, the king of the Great Qin, successively defeated the northern secession regimes such as Qianyan, Dai, and Qianliang, and unified the Yellow River Valley. The territory of the former Qin Dynasty stretched from the east coast of the present-day Korean Peninsula in the east, to the present-day Pamir Plateau in the west, and to the north of the lake in present-day Baikal Lake in the north.

However, in Fu Jian's heart, there is still one thing on his mind. That is, if the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which is in the southeast corner, is not conquered for a day, the Great Qin Heavenly King is only the Heavenly King of the north, not the supreme of the whole country. Life must be proud, and the strength is not shown, just like a brocade at night. Everyone in the world knows that the gods are good, only the fame can not be forgotten, even the word "quiet", there is also a hidden word "fight", life in the world, but the word fame and fortune, as strong as Fu Jian, is not exempt from vulgarity.

In 373, the Former Qin army captured the Liang and Yierzhou prefectures of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, namely present-day Hanzhong in Shaanxi and Chengdu in Sichuan, expanding their influence to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Han River.

Two years later, Fu Jian sent his son Fu Pi and Murong Chui, who had surrendered to Qianyan, to lead an army of more than 100,000 to attack Xiangyang, an important military town in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty guard guarding Xiangyang was called Zhu Xu. Familiar with the name? Yes, as mentioned above, the Huanwen Northern Expedition defeated the vanguard general of the former Yan Army in the battle of Linzhu (now northeast of Xinzheng County, Henan).

Xiangyang, the gateway of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the terrain is dangerous, Zhu Xu led the army to defend it, and even took the initiative to go out of the city to fight many times, and repeatedly defeated the former Qin army.

The city is under siege, and it is rare to be able to hold out for a year. A year later, Zhu Xu's troops surrendered the city to Qin, and Zhu Xu was captured. Fu Jian loved his talent and reused it, which also left a bane for his defeat.

The city of Xiangyang was broken, Fu Jian was ambitious, and the time had come to conquer the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River. However, according to Pock's theorem, the best ideas and decisions can only be born in arguments, so ask for the opinions of your courtiers. The following are the minutes of the Great Qin Southern Expedition Seminar:

When: 382 years

Location: Chang'an, Taiji Hall

Moderator: Fu Jian, the Great Qin Heavenly King, 44 years old

Fu Jian: Now the conditions are ripe for sending troops to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to unify the north and the south, and there are two bases: first, the north has been decided; Second, there is a lot of food for soldiers. As a rough estimate, there are about 970,000 troops at our disposal.

Prince Zuo Wei and Minister Shi Yue: No, first, according to the astrological view, it is not appropriate to go south this year. The second is that the Jin Dynasty has the Yangtze River, and the Han people regard the Sima clan as orthodox and the people's will, so they should not act rashly, it is better to stick to the national strength first and wait for its changes.

Fu Jian: Listening to your words is like listening to nonsense. Do you believe so about the stars? As for the natural danger of the Yangtze River, Wu Wangfu in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Sun Hao, King Wu in the Three Kingdoms, which one did not have the Yangtze River Natural Insurance, and was not destroyed in the end? Our 970,000 troops, each of whom throws a horsewhip into the Yangtze River, can cut it off.

Secretary Zhu Tong: I agree with the emperor's opinion (follow the leader closely, and the one who best understands the leader's intention is always the leader's secretary).

Fu Rong (Fu Jian's younger brother): Shi Yue is right, first, from the astrological point of view, the southern expedition is not in line with the will of heaven; Second, although Jin is located in the south and southeast, there is no civil strife in Shangxia, and there is no provocation to us. Third, the most important point is that we have been fighting for many years and have just completed the reunification of the north, and the soldiers are tired and the people are tired of war. Besides, the unification we have completed is only a formal unification, and the conquered Xianbei, Qiang, and other nobles may not sincerely submit to us, and the southern expedition should be delayed.

Fu Jian: You said something similar to Shi Yue.

Fu Rong: Our opinion can be ignored by the emperor, has he forgotten the last words of Prime Minister Wang Meng on his deathbed? Beware of the surrendered Xianbei, Di and other nobles, and should not easily use force against the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Fu Jian was stunned for a moment, and Wang Meng's last words immediately echoed in his mind: "A good author may not be a good one, and a good one may not die well." Therefore, the ancient Ming monarch and the holy king knew that it was not easy to start a business, and they all trembled, as if they were on the edge of the abyss. ”

"Although the Jin Dynasty is located in the south of the Yangtze River, it is orthodox in China, and it is peaceful from top to bottom. After the death of the minister, His Majesty must not try to destroy the Jin Dynasty. Xianbei and Xiqiang subdued the nobles and thieves are the enemies of our country, and sooner or later they will become a scourge, and they should be gradually eradicated for the benefit of the country. ”

Fu Jian pondered for a moment and pouted: Forget it, the discussion is over, and I have my own decision.

After the meeting, Fu Jian consulted his concubine Mrs. Zhang and the prince Fu Hong, but neither of them agreed with the Jin Dynasty.

Fu Jian was very disappointed in his ministers, he had been governing the country diligently for 30 years, and had nearly one million troops, and there was still a so-called Chinese orthodox Eastern Jin Dynasty regime in the southeast, why couldn't he take advantage of the victory of unifying the north and flatten the south in one fell swoop?

Weisi people, who am I with me!

When Fu Jianzheng lamented that it was difficult to find a bosom friend, the "bosom friend" came to the door, and two came as soon as he came. Who is it? Two surrenderers.

One is Murong Xianbei's Murong Chui. As mentioned above, Murong Chui was a hero in the world, and if he hadn't been jealous and excluded by the Qianyan nobles, he would not have surrendered easily. The second person is Yao Chang, Qiang Shuai.

Qiang was the general name of the nomadic peoples of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet and Sichuan in the western region of the Central Plains tribe at that time. The only word about the clan title found in the oracle bone inscription found in China, namely "Qiang", is the earliest record of the Chinese class name.

"Shuowen • Sheep Department": "Qiang, Xirong shepherds also, from people from sheep, sheep also sound." Jiang and Qiang are like people wearing sheep's horn headdresses, representing the primitive nomadic tribes in the northwest of our country with sheep as totems.

Yao Chang, the twenty-fourth son of Yao Yizhong, the leader of the Qiang tribe, and the younger brother of Yao Xiang. Yao Chang followed Yao Xiang to send troops everywhere and exercised a certain amount of actual combat ability in his military career. In 357, Yao Xiang failed to capture Guanzhong and was killed by Former Qin, so Yao Chang had to lead the remnants of Yao Xiang to surrender to Former Qin. After Fu Jian seized power and appointed himself as the king of Great Qin, he appointed Yao Chang as the general of Yangwu.

Although the ways in which Murong Chui and Yao Chang surrendered to the former Qin were different, one thing was the same, that is, they both surrendered involuntarily. Both of them hope that Fu Jian will fight the Jin, and the motive is very good to analyze: if the Jin is successful, Fu Jian, who implements benevolent government, will definitely not treat them badly. If the war and Jin fail, it is even more expected by the two, so that the two can take the opportunity to restore the country.

When a man decides to do a big thing, and his family and relatives are all against it and only his friends are supportive, he must be cautious, especially for middle-aged men, once he takes a wrong step, there is not much time left for him to correct his mistakes. At this time, Fu Jian was carried away by ambition, and saw that the nobles of the Xianbei and Qiang tribes supported him, and made up his mind to go south.

In fact, Lao Wang believes that no matter whether Murong Chui and Yao Chang support it or not, the 44-year-old Fu Jian will still insist on fulfilling his dream of ascending to the supreme throne of the entire China, and he can't afford to wait in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, where the average life expectancy is only about 40 years old. The support of the two is just the internal psychological support and external excuse for Fu Jian's self-construction.

In May 383, Fu Jian, the emperor of Great Qin, issued a mobilization order: first, to levy all public and private horses in the country; second, 1 out of 10 civilians was selected to join the army; The third is the children of good families with high backgrounds, and those who are brave under the age of 20 are directly recruited into the Imperial Forest Army and are named officers (all worship Yu Lin Lang). To join the army for the country, you have to look at the door, which shows how difficult it was for the children of civilians in ancient times to get ahead.

Although there are many soldiers, compared with the luxurious lineup of the generals and commanders when the north was unified, the command system this time is much inferior.

Prime Minister Wang Meng (Zhuge Liang) has died. The general Deng Qiang (Guan Yu) also died four years earlier, in 379. The right general Yang An (Ma Chao) has also long since died. Cavalry General Lu Guang (Zhao Zilong)? Four months ago, he was sent by Fu Jian to go west to conquer the Western Regions. After the Battle of Feishui, he took advantage of the situation to create a new empire in the Western Regions - Houliang. The only famous generals who went on this expedition were Zhang Hao (Zhang Fei) in his twilight years, and Liang Cheng (Feng Xi or Zhang Nan), a general of the Wei Army and a thorn in Jingzhou.

The same prime minister (Zhuge Liang/Wang Meng) did not agree to attack the regime of Dingdu Nanjing (Eastern Wu/Eastern Jin Dynasty), the same generals fell or sent abroad (Guan Yu, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun/Deng Qiang, Yang An, Lü Guang), and Liu Bei was defeated and killed in the battle with Yiling of Eastern Wu...... But if Fu Jian had studied comparative history, would he have started this ominous war?

Historical Comparative Studies? That noun in the writings of academic masters? No, Lao Wang created it himself. History is always strikingly similar: Yang Jun/Cao Shuang, Sima Wei/Wei Changhui, Tan Daoji/Yue Fei, Er Zhurong/Zhu Wen, Gao Huan/Cao Cao; The dynasty that died II + the super empire / Qin + Han / Sui + Tang /; Three Kingdoms Divided into Jin (Han, Zhao, Wei) / Three Kingdoms Returned to Jin (Wei, Shu, Wu)......

In any case, a large southern expeditionary force of the former Qin was quickly formed. This force has a total of more than 900,000 people, and its composition is very complex. There are Fu Jian's Di people, as well as young and middle-aged people of various ethnic groups in the north such as Han, Xianbei, Qian, and Qiang, which can be described as a multi-ethnic coalition army.

After the formation of the Southern Expeditionary Team, Fu Jian issued an order for an all-out attack on the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In August 383, Fu Jian personally led a coalition of more than 900,000 ethnic groups from Chang'an to the south, including 600,000 infantry, 270,000 cavalry, and 30,000 palace forbidden troops (Yu Linlang). At the same time, Fu Jian ordered Zitong to guard Pei Yuanluo, lead 70,000 naval troops, and go east from the Bashu Yangtze River, wanting to follow the Western Jin Dynasty's battle to destroy Eastern Wu, resulting in a trend of advancing by land and water, and attacking Jiankang, the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

There are tens of thousands of people, boundless. This expeditionary force of more than 900,000 people can be described as magnificent, on the main road from Chang'an to the south, infantry, cavalry, vehicles, horses, and baggage, smoke and dust are billowing and facing each other, and the ranks are mighty and stretching for thousands of miles. Fu Jian's arrogance was born suddenly: with my brigade, I threw the whip into the river, and cut off its flow.

In September 383, the main force of the expeditionary force reached Xiangcheng, Henan, which was the hometown of Yuan Shikai in later generations; The naval army of Bashu was also moving eastward along the river, and part of the troops reached Pengcheng from the north of the Yellow River, which is today's Xuzhou City, Jiangsu, and the front of the army was directed to the south of the Yangtze River.

When the news reached Jiankang, the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the entire government and the opposition were shrouded in a panic atmosphere, and the Jin Xiaowu Emperor Sima Yao and the ministers were even more panicked, after all, it is needless to say that there are nearly a million troops, even if millions of locusts fly over, it is enough for the south.

No one wants Jiangnan to fall into the hands of foreign races, how to fight against Fu Jian's 970,000 army? Who will lead the resistance? The family is poor and thinks of a good wife, and the country is in trouble and thinks of a good general. At the moment of the great enemy, the monarchs and ministers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty invariably thought of a person.

Xie An. A native of Yangxia, Chenjun (now Taikang, Henan), he was a scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and a scholar of the Zhongshu Order, and he was regarded as the chief assistant of the dynasty.

"In the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people", Wang and Xie Ermen, which can be called TOP2 in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, plus Yu and Huan, and are known as the four major valves of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Historical books usually describe that when Xie An was young, he was good friends with Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher and Langyu Wang, and the two often indulged in Huiji Dongshan, chanting poems against each other, not pointing out the country, only exaggerating words.

Like many intellectuals in the Jin Dynasty, Xie An had a "Wei and Jin demeanor", and he preferred to live in seclusion in Dongshan rather than devote himself to officialdom. Someone recommended him to be an official, and after more than a month in office, he fired the squid of the government. At that time, there was a saying in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: If Xie An doesn't come out to be an official, what should the people do?

It wasn't until he was in his forties that Xie An returned to officialdom. Because he lived in seclusion in Dongshan for a long time, the world called him "Dongshan Comeback" when he came back as an official, and its meaning has been passed down to the present.

In fact, the reason why Xie An can play chic and deep is because he is a big landlord, he does not worry about food and clothing, and he does not have to live on the salary of a civil servant.

It is said that Xie An lives in seclusion in Dongshan, but in fact, unlike the gray-haired, yellow-skinned modern hermits in Zhongnan Mountain, he lives in Xie's villa in Dongshan, Shanyin County, Huiji County. Xie Lingyun's "Mountain Dwelling Fu" describes the luxury of Xie's manor, and literary young people can carefully study and taste it. Up to now, it is a luxury illegal building built in the tourism development zone, and under the general situation of demolition, the urban management will definitely be demolished.

The reason why Xie An came out to be an official in his forties was because the Xie family showed signs of losing power at that time and needed him to come out to revitalize the family.

And because his own family is a high-ranking scholar family, Xie An has an official to do whenever he comes out. Up to now, the age of the civil service examination is 35 years old, and Xie An is not even qualified to sign up, that is, because the age of doctoral degree is relaxed, he is also applying for a position below the chief clerk. According to the regulations that only one promotion can be made after three years of service, and getting a full division level before retirement is considered to be green smoke from the ancestral grave. And as soon as Xie An came out, he was a proper deputy national level.

Historical books have always described how calm Xie An was in the face of the former Qin army, but in fact, whoever faced such a giant expeditionary force could only have a pain. Fortunately, Xie An is the elite of the scholar clan after all, and he also has his own trump card in his hand.

Beifu soldiers.

The territory under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time could be divided into two parts: a military town and a production base.

The military towns are mainly Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Jingzhou is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the land is wide and the army is strong, it is the gateway to the north of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the strategic location is extremely important, Jingzhou has a governor's office, and the products and troops account for half of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the country (the actual soldier armor, half of the imperial court).

Yangzhou, the capital of Jiankang, is the location of Gyeonggi and the foundation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The production base of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, mainly Sanwu and eastern Zhejiang, is the grain and cotton base of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In troubled times, the status of the governors of Jing and Yang was much higher than that of other Xinjiang ministers. However, if the governors of Jing and Yang Prefecture want to talk about the short and long, they have their own merits.

Yangzhou, because it is where Gyeonggi is located, its local governor can be called the head of the Xinjiang ministers, and his political status is slightly higher than that of Jingzhou.

Jingzhou, accounting for more than half of the country's materials and troops, Jingzhou Thorn History is the largest warlord and the first powerful faction in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Look at the former Jingzhou Assassin Wang Dun, as soon as the emperor did something unpleasant to him, he directly led his troops into Beijing to teach the emperor a lesson. Another Jingzhou assassin, Shi Huanwen, almost became the emperor himself.

Although Xie An is the prime minister, he has always been worried about threats from two sides. On the one hand, it is naturally the pre-Qin from the north; On the other hand, it is Jingzhou from within.

As mentioned above, the Jingzhou Assassin and Yangzhou Assassin (this one is the most ruthless) Huan Wen's intention to usurp the throne with high merit failed, but his successor did not make Xie An feel at ease.

Because, the person who took over this position is also surnamed Huan, called Huan Chong, Huan Wen's younger brother.

Wang, Yu, Huan, and Xie, the four major lords of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Shi clan was powerful. The Huan clan has military power, and even the emperor has to be afraid of three points, although Xie An is the prime minister, he is also a rat taboo, and he can't easily attack the Huan clan.

How could we resist the southern invasion of the former Qin and ease the pressure of local warlords on the central court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty? Xie An gave the answer.

Formation and training of the new army.

At that time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty implemented the world military system, and the troops, especially the Central Army, lacked training, and there were few opportunities for actual combat, so their combat effectiveness was very weak. In order to enrich the military strength of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, defend the capital Jiankang, and restrain the power of the Huan clan in Jingzhou in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, under Xie An's planning, in October 377, the Eastern Jin Dynasty appointed Xie An's nephew Xie Xuan as the general of Jianwu and the assassin of Yanzhou.

After Xie Xuan took office, he moved his military office from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu) to Guangling (now Yangzhou City, Jiangsu), and issued a recruitment notice, and the soldiers were mainly recruited from Nanxuzhou (Jingkou, where the government was located) and Nanyanzhou (Guangling, where the government was located).

Xie Xuan's recruitment of soldiers from these two places was not a random decision, but a deliberate one.

Xu and Yan were the concentration of displaced people from the north to the south. As mentioned above, the "Begging Army" composed of northern refugees was a special force with strong combat effectiveness during the period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and the fierce customs of the northern refugees are rare in the world.

Jingzhou Thorn Shi Huan Wen once clearly pointed out: "Jingkou wine can be drunk, Kei can be used, and soldiers can be used." The common people of the Eastern Jin Dynasty called Jingkou "Beifu", so this new army was called the Beifu Army.

The Beifu Army, in a sense, is the official version of the "Beggar Army".

In later generations, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army was able to recruit Wang Shizhen, Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui, Cao Kun, Zhang Xun, and Xie Xuan's Beifu Army in the previous life also recruited Pengcheng Liu Gaozhi, Donghai He Qian, Langya Zhuge Kan, Le'an Gaoheng, Dongping Liu Rail, Xihe Tianluo, Jinling Sun Wuzhong and other fierce generals.

The Beiyang New Army has the three heroes of Beiyang, the dragon Wang Shizhen of Beiyang, Duan Qirui, the tiger of Beiyang, and Feng Guozhang, the dog of Beiyang. And the Beifu Army also has its own "Dragon of Beifu".

Liu Gaozhi.

Liu Gaozhi, the word Daojian, Han nationality, Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu), was born in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his parents were all officers of the Jin Dynasty.

Book of Jin. The Biography of Liu Gaozhi contains: The face of the prison is purple and red, and the eyes are amazing, and Shen Yi has a lot of plans. Judging from the physiognomy, he is engaged in a lot of physical exercise, and the secretion of male hormones is vigorous.

After joining the Beifu Army, Liu Gaozhi was appointed by Xie Xuan to join the army and relied on him very much. After strict training, the Beifu soldiers gradually became a strong division and became a force that the Eastern Jin Dynasty court relied on very much.

The first time the Beifu soldiers showed their faces was in 379. In May 379, the former Qin generals Ju Nan and Peng Chao attacked Huainan and besieged San'a. The Beifu soldiers rescued San'a and won the first battle, forcing the former Qin soldiers to retreat north.

In 383, when the former Qin king Fu Jian launched a large-scale war against the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Beifu Army had been established for 7 years, and the sacred mission of resisting the former Qin expeditionary army and defending the country would fall on the shoulders of this powerful army.

In the face of the super-large-scale southern invasion of the former Qin, which was both land and water, Xie An, as the commander-in-chief, deployed the strategic defense as follows:

Land: 80,000 Beifu soldiers under the command of his younger brother Xie Shi and nephew Xie Xuan resisted.

Waterway: For the naval army that started from Bashu and went south along the waterway of the former Qin, the task of resistance was naturally undertaken by Huan Chong, who was sitting in Jingzhou, the gateway to the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Chinese, in peacetime, intrigue and struggle for power and profit, but in times of war, they can often unite as one and go to the national disaster together, which is a unique oriental aristocratic spirit.

For example, in the Battle of Songhu in later generations, in addition to the all-out efforts of the Central Army of Jiang's descendants, almost all the six most elite divisions of the Gui Department were killed, the 67th Army of the Northeast Army from the commander to the soldiers, a total of more than 20,000 people were martyred, and the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army fought less than one division, the Hunan Army lost all its losses, and the number was withdrawn, and the name of the Hunan Army, which had been famous since the Qing Dynasty, withdrew from the historical stage ....... Let's take a look at the Northwest Army in the Great Wall War of Resistance, the 19th Route Army of the Guangdong Army in the "128 Incident", the Gui Army that defeated the elite 6th Division of the Japanese Army in the Battle of Huangguang, the Jin Sui Army in the Battle of Bailing Temple, not to mention the Eighth Route Army in the Pingxingguan Victory and the Battle of the Hundred Regiments.

This time, in the face of the pressure of the army of foreign races in the north, fortunately, the two great scholars of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Huan and Xie put aside all the entanglements of interests and resisted foreign insults together when the national crisis was at hand, and there was a situation of "the monarch and the ministers are harmonious, and the top and bottom are concentric".

Huan Chong was appointed as the assassin of Jiangzhou, and led 100,000 Jin troops to control the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, preventing the former Qin from starting from Bashu and going down the river east. At the same time, he sent the general Hu Bin to lead 5,000 naval troops to reinforce the strategic location of Shouyang (now Shou County, Anhui).

The prelude to a great war that decided the history of China's north and south slowly began.

On October 18, 383, Fu Jian's brother Fu Rong led his vanguard troops to capture Shouyang (present-day Shou County) and captured the Jin garrison general Xu Yuanxi. At the same time, Murong Chui of Qin Wei and former Qianyan led his troops to capture Yuncheng (present-day Anlu, Hubei).

Hu Bin, a Jin general who was ordered to lead a naval army to aid Shouyang, learned that Shouyang had been broken by the former Qin on the way, so he led his army to retreat to Kipshi (southwest of present-day Fengtai, Anhui), waiting to join Xie Shi and Xie Xuan's large forces.

After learning that Hu Bin's troops had retreated to Kipshi, Fu Rong led his army to attack, and at the same time sent his general Liang Cheng to lead 50,000 troops to attack Luojian (in the east of present-day Huainan, Anhui), cutting off the Huai River traffic and blocking Hu Bin's retreat.

Hu Bin was trapped in Kipshi by the former Qin army, and the grain and grass were exhausted, and it was difficult to support, so he sent someone to send a letter to Xie Shi to tell him about the emergency. However, this messenger was captured by Qin Bing, and the urgent letter also fell into the hands of Fu Rong.

Fu Rong learned from Hu Bin's urgent letter that the Kipshi Jin army had few soldiers and little food, so he immediately reported to Fu Jian, who was stationed in Xiangcheng, and suggested that the troops should be raised quickly to prevent the Jin army from escaping.

After receiving the retribution, Fu Jian made a mistake that he regretted for the rest of his life.

The greatest advantage of the Former Qin army over the Eastern Jin Dynasty was the strength of the troops, and the ratio of troops reached 97:8. The disadvantage of the former Qin was that the composition of the army was complex, and the organization was not strict enough, if it could be gathered together to fight in groups, it would sweep away thousands of troops by relying on a large number of people, and if there was a slight setback, it was easy to scatter birds and beasts and collapse for thousands of miles.

In order to find a corner of peace, the Eastern Jin Dynasty would erupt in the face of an astonishing resistance in the face of invasion. Fu Jian was carried away by his seemingly powerful military strength, and after getting Fu Rong's report, he couldn't wait to eat the Jin army in one bite. He thought that the large army was too slow, so he left the large army in Xiangcheng, and personally led 8,000 light cavalry to Shouyang.

Fu Jian arrived in Shouyang, wanted to surrender without a fight, and prepared to send people to the Jin army camp to persuade him to surrender. Who will you send? Fu Jian thought of someone.

Zhu Xu is the former Xiangyang guard general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who was captured 7 years ago.

When the former Qin attacked Xiangyang, Zhu Xu led the army to resist desperately, but he was captured due to the surrender of his generals and was used by Fu Jian. But he himself has a strong national plot, he is in Qin Ying, his heart is in Jin, and he can be called Hu Di and Qian Zhuangfei of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the former Qin.

After Zhu went undercover to the Jin camp, not only did he not persuade him to surrender, but instead provided Xie Shi with the deployment of troops and the ideological dynamics of the former Qin army.

Seven years of undercover career, Zhu Xu profoundly saw the situation of the two armies, he said: Although the Qin army has more than 900,000 people, but the large army is still marching, if they are allowed to concentrate their forces, the military strength is very terrifying. We should now take advantage of the fact that the Qin army has not all arrived at the concentration, and launch an attack quickly and proactively, as long as we can defeat the Qin forward troops and defeat their spirits, we can break this rabble.

Huge does not necessarily mean strong, what is really strong is unity. Xie Shi and Xie Xuan analyzed Zhu Xu's suggestion, thought it was true, and decided to change the operational policy and turn defense into offense.

In November 383, Xie Xuan ordered Liu Gaozhi, the "Dragon of Beifu", to lead 5,000 Beifu soldiers to attack the Liang Cheng division of the Qin army in Luojian. Liang Cheng led 50,000 troops to line up on the edge of Luojian to meet the attack.

The military strength of the two sides was 10:1, but Liu Gaozhi boldly determined that the Qin army was not in harmony, and when the troops were at an absolute disadvantage, he divided his troops to return to the Qin army's formation, made the appearance of cutting off its way back, and then led his troops to cross Luoshui and attack the Qin army head-on.

When the soldiers of Beifu were recuperating for a long time, they were well-equipped, their fighting spirit was high, and the national sentiment was high. The Qin army was unstable and panicked, and after resisting for a while, it collapsed, and the main general Liang Cheng and his brother Liang Yun were killed in battle. The rout rushed across the Huai River to flee for their lives, and more than 15,000 people were killed.

Most of them were drowned.

The morale of the army is accumulated from victory after battle, especially in the first battle, which is very important. In the first offensive battle, a great victory was achieved in Luojian, with only 5,000 Beifu soldiers and 50,000 Qin troops fleeing for their lives everywhere, which greatly boosted the morale of the Jin army.

And the defeat of the 50,000 Qin army Luojian to the 5,000 Jin army was really a blow to the ambitious Fu Jian. Fu Jian was suspicious, and he and his younger brother Fu Rong climbed the mountain at night to spy on the Jin camp.

On the opposite side of Bagong Mountain, the camps of the Jin army are lined up in an orderly manner, spreading to the top of the mountain; The lights are bright, the sentry posts are solemn, the armor is bright, and the staff is neat. Fu Jian was faintly flustered, the grass and trees on Bagong Mountain were full of shadows, and they were like soldiers all over the mountains.

This is the origin of "all plants and trees are soldiers". Suspicious and unconfident are twin sisters. Fu firmly believed that his heart was frustrated, but after all, the army rushed to Shouyang one after another, and his heart gradually gained confidence, and the next step was to find the main force of the Jin army and conduct a decisive battle.

Fu Jian's army was deployed on the west bank of the river and confronted the Jin army across the river. The commanders of the two armies also began to fight.

Xie Shi and Xie Xuan learned about the reality of the Qin army from Zhu's undercover agent, and knew that although the Qin army was numerous, the miscellaneous troops were uneven, and once they were in chaos, it was difficult to command. The trick to defeating this huge motley army is to mess them up.

Xie Shi and Xie Xuan sent envoys to tell Fu Rong: You have come from afar to have the advantage of troops, but you are pressing to set up a formation in Weishui, why do you want to fight a protracted war? We should fight to decide the winner. Why don't you retreat your troops a little back and make room for our army to cross the river, and the two armies will fight again? (If the formation is small, so that the Jin soldiers can cross, to decide the victory, isn't it also good?) ）

Fu Rong reported the intention of the Jin envoy to Fu Jian, and Fu Jian convened a military meeting to discuss countermeasures.

Most of the generals of the Qin army believed that the Qin army had the advantage of strength, and I could be the master, and as long as the Jin army dared to go down the river, they would not be able to go down the river.

Fu Jian believed that it was better to plan the plan, let the army retreat slightly, and when the Jin army was lured to cross the river, then use cavalry to charge and kill, and attack half-crossing, so that the battle could be decided.

Jin Fang, Qin generals, Fu Jian, whose countermeasures are appropriate?

Objectively speaking, it should all be good. Later generations of wise historians have criticized Fu Jian's decision as a straw bag decision, which is actually a bit excessive.

First of all, Fu Jian did not make the mistake of Song Xianggong back then. When the Song army and the Chu army confronted each other across the river, when the Chu army crossed the river, the general persuaded Song Xianggong to attack halfway, but Song Xianggong gave up the attack on the grounds of benevolence and righteousness, and when the Chu army came ashore, the beaten Song army hugged his head and ran away, and the Song army was also posthumously awarded a glorious title by Grandpa Mao - the stupid pig-style benevolent and righteous teacher. And Fu Jian's countermeasure was to prepare to attack the Jin army halfway.

Secondly, the disagreement between Fu Jian and the generals was the question of whether the army could retreat or not, and whether the land could be vacated. The generals thought that they would not retreat and attack directly halfway, while Fu Jian would retreat first and then attack halfway. Who's right? Fu Jian: Yes.

The reason is very simple: if you don't retreat, can the Jin army cross the river?

Fu Rong expressed his approval of his brother Fu Jian's plan and agreed to Jin's request.

The next day, the two sides set up formations on both sides of the river as agreed. The Qin army retreated, and the Jin army crossed the river.

However, a generation of heroes Fu Jian really overestimated the morale and centripetal force of this ragtag army under his command. As soon as the hundreds of thousands of troops withdrew, the formation suddenly became chaotic, shouting east and west, and swaying north and south.

Xie Xuan took advantage of the situation and led 8,000 light cavalry to quickly cross the river and attack the Qin army.

At this time, the voice of Zhu undercover sounded in the Qin army's array: The Qin army is defeated, the Qin army is defeated, and the brothers are retreating quickly.

Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of Qin troops crowded together, and the soldiers began to turn around and flee. Fu Rong hurriedly urged him to stop him, trying to stabilize his position. However, he really underestimated the impact of the rout of the rabble.

In the chaos, Fu Rong's war horse was swept down by the rebels, and he was also cut in two by Xie Xuan's light cavalry who rushed over. The vanguard of the Qin army, which had lost its main general, became more and more chaotic, and the Beifu soldiers continued to come ashore to reinforce, and the vanguard of the Qin army quickly collapsed.

The rout of the vanguard caused panic among the follow-up troops of the Qin army, which quickly formed a domino chain reaction, and in the end, the whole army collapsed and fled north. The routs did not dare to stop along the way, and when they heard the sound of the wind, they all thought that it was the Jin army chasing the soldiers. The Jin army took advantage of the victory to cover the pursuit and pursued it until Qinggang near Shouyang.

In this battle, the Qin soldiers suffered countless casualties, most of which were killed by stepping on each other. The corpses were all over the mountains and fields, filling the rivers. In the chaos, Fu Jian himself was wounded by an arrow. When they fled back to Luoyang, the Qin army only had more than 100,000 people left, and the loss was eighty or ninety.

The former generals of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zhu Xu and Xu Yuanxi, all came to defect to the Eastern Jin Dynasty anyway. The two of them felt a little embarrassed to surrender anyway, and gave Xie Xuan a car as a meeting gift.

This car is not an ordinary car, but a special car that Fu Jian is riding, and the decoration is extremely luxurious, and the key is that the symbolism is strong.

The Jin army took advantage of the victory and captured Shouyang and captured Guo Bao, the Huainan Taishou of the former Qin.

This battle took place in what is now Shou County, Anhui Province, which was known as Shouzhou and Shouyang in ancient times. The water is divided into two major tributaries. One flows northwest, through 200 miles, out of Shou County and into the Huai River. The other flows southeast and flows into Chaohu Lake.

Weishui is a famous ancient battlefield, during the Three Kingdoms, Cao Wei's general, Zhang Liao, who was powerful and Xiaoyaojin, had defeated Sun Quan of Eastern Wu here.

The Battle of Weishui is always said to be a famous example of the victory of the weak over the strong in history, but in fact, it is more appropriate to say that it is a famous example of winning more with less. Although there was a huge gap between the Qin and Jin armies in the number of soldiers, the Qin army was more of a miscellaneous army of various ethnic groups, and the army was unstable, the people were tired and the cohesion was extremely poor; The backbone of the Eastern Jin Dynasty army was a strong Beifu soldier, with a single ethnic component, high morale and strong cohesion in the face of foreign invasion.

The good news of the battle of Weishui came, and Xie An, the chief of staff of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was playing chess, and when he learned that the battle report could be expressionless, until a game of chess was finished. From whether you can calm down or not, you can see whether a person is in good health. A person who is calm is full of kidneys, that is, he can hold his breath. And people who are moody and angry are generally a manifestation of kidney essence deficiency. Therefore, people who can control their emotions are often more able to achieve great things.

Qin was defeated before the Battle of Weishui, however, the Civil War did not end there. The Eastern Jin Dynasty took advantage of the Northern Expedition and achieved a series of fruitful results:

1. In the first month of 384, Liu Gaozhi conquered Qiaocheng (now north of Xiayi County, Henan). Liu Yingong was named General Long Xiang, Pengcheng Neishi, and Baron (Title) of Wugang County, with 500 households.

2. In August 384, Xie An, with Xie Xuan as the forward governor, led Yuzhou Assassin Shi and the champion general Huan Shiqian to attack Qianqin, and took Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu) without blood.

3. In September 384, Liu Gaozhi attacked Zhang Chong, the assassin of Yanzhou in Qin, in Juancheng (now Shandong), and Zhang Chong abandoned Juancheng and fled. Liu Gaozhi then took Juancheng and later pacified Yanzhou.

4. In October 384, Xie Xuan sent troops to attack Qingzhou (Shandong), Jizhou (Hebei), and Liankezhi.

In the following decades, the Eastern Jin Dynasty of the Han regime in the south was never invaded by foreign tribes, and it can be said that the First World War fought more than 40 years of peace, creating a good social environment for the economic recovery and development of the Jiangnan region.

The fiasco of the Battle of Weishui made Fu Jian remorseful, and he remembered Prime Minister Wang Meng's warning before his death: the Jin Dynasty was Zhengshuo, and it was internally united, with the support of the people of the world, and there was no chance of victory. In the former Qin, there were many contradictions, especially Murong Xianbei, Qiang and other separatist forces were eyeing each other and plotting to make a comeback.

If you are outside, you must first settle inside. If you don't resist it, civil strife will inevitably arise. The first half of Wang Meng's prophecy has been confirmed in the Battle of Weishui, and soon, the second half of his prophecy has also become a reality.