Chapter 7 6. Wei Rui saves Zhongli

Luokou was defeated, and Liang Jun's full-scale offensive came to naught. The previous siege battles in Huaiyang, Yiyang and other places were forced to abandon, and the small cities of Suyu and Liangcheng also abandoned their defenses one after another. The troops of Xing Luan and Yuan Ying occupied Suyu and Liangcheng respectively. The main force of the Liang army retreated eastward along the Huai River.Yuanying ran non-stop to Matou (now south of Huaiyuan, Anhui), where Liang Jun's grain was stored, and transported all the grain and grass stored in the city to Huaibei. With almost no loss, he got the food and grass of hundreds of thousands of troops, and Yuanying made a lot of money.When the news reached Jiankang, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty breathed a sigh of relief. They believed that the move of the Wei army to transport grain was a signal to withdraw to the north, and they probably would not cross Huainan again.

Emperor Liang Wu, who was above the court, kept a clear head and said: "No, this move must be to advance troops. First, we will use the guise of transporting grain to the north to relax our army's vigilance." The war is far from over!He ordered to repair Zhongli city defenses, and urgently ordered Chang Yizhi, who had withdrawn from Liangcheng, to lead 3,000 soldiers and horses to station in Zhongli, preparing to resist another attack from the north. Emperor Liang Wu's judgment on the enemy army was very accurate. As soon as Changyizhi's defenders were reorganized in Zhongli City, Yuanying came back from Huaibei, and hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded Zhongli on the south bank.A famous offensive and defensive battle in Chinese history kicked off.

Zhongli City, located in the northeast of Fengyang, Anhui today, was the capital of Zhongli in the Spring and Autumn Period. It had a history of more than 1,000 years when Liang and Wei confronted each other.Among the complex surnames, those with the surname "Zhongli" are the descendants of Zhongli State, and the surname Zhong also comes from a branch of the Zhongli family.In the Spring and Autumn Period, the feudal lords fought for hegemony. As the hub of the north and the south, it was once the meeting place for the feudal lords.During the war, it was also known as Bawang City and Donglu City. It is said that both Xiang Yu and Lu Su built this city, but there is no trace to test it.The unique location of Zhongli City next to the Huai River was very important in the middle period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties when the Huai River was ruled. The southwest of Zhongli is Hefei City, and the southeast of Jiangdong is Jiankang. The distance between the three cities is almost the same, forming the shape of Pin.From Zhongli to Jiankang, there are no other important cities. In other words, if Zhongli is lost, the Wei army can quickly send troops to the southeast, drink horses along the Yangtze River, and approach Jiankang.Zhongli is the last barrier on the Nanliang defense line.

Among the several important towns along the coast of Huainan, Zhongli City is also the most difficult to capture.In the lower reaches of the Huai River not far from Zhongli, there are two relatively large islands: Shaoyang Island and Taoren Island.Shaoyang Continent is larger and more important, and the food road connecting the north must pass through here; whoever controls Shaoyang Continent will control the initiative in offensive and defensive warfare, and to occupy an island for a long time when the navy does not have an advantage, How difficult is it?Emperor Wei Xiaowen's attack on Zhongli (see "Mingzhu Hunjun") fell short because the Southern Qi army captured Shaoyangzhou.

How to effectively control Shaoyangzhou and ensure the smooth progress of the siege battle has been a problem that has plagued the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Wei Dynasty for a long time.Duzhi Shangshu Xing Luan was well aware of the dilemma, and he disapproved of attacking Zhongli.Emperor Xuanwu ordered him to lead his troops to join Yuanying and attack the city together, but he made a statement, saying, "Although the southern army is not an enemy in the field, the city has more than enough defense; if we attack Zhongli as hard as we can now, we will gain little and gain nothing if we win it." The loss will be huge." Moreover, even if the surrender is immediate, the army does not have enough food for defense, so it is better to withdraw the troops for the time being and look for opportunities before making plans.Emperor Xuanwu refused to listen and urged him to march.Xing Luan still tried his best to oppose the four reasons of soldiers getting tired easily, lack of food and grass, Zhongli natural danger, and no internal response in the city, and pointed out that if he really wanted to march, it would be better to surprise and directly attack Guangling in the north of the Yangtze River, and there might be a possibility of success.Emperor Xuanwu couldn't urge him repeatedly, so he had to respect Xing Luan's personal wishes, and replaced him with Zhendong General Xiao Baokui, and surrounded Zhongli with Yuanying.In addition to Yang Dayan, the general of Pingdong who was supporting on the north bank, there were no less than 400,000 to 500,000 Wei troops gathered near Zhongli.

In hindsight, Xing Luan was right, but the views he put forward were not enough to make Wei Jun, who was too smooth on the battlefield, go home.Emperor Xuanwu may have forgotten that the war started with Nanliang, and the Wei army did not have a thorough and sufficient battle plan. The 400,000 to 500,000 troops were the product of successive batches of reinforcements; although Nanliang's plan for the Northern Expedition failed, they Their counterattack ability should not be underestimated. Their highest decision-maker, Emperor Liang Wu, was much better than the emperors of the Southern Qi Dynasty.

Emperor Liang Wu knew that the Liang army was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of city defense. He sent Cao Jingzong, a regular cavalry servant and right guard general, to lead an army of 200,000 troops from Jiankang to rescue.This is basically all the elite that the capital can dispatch.Before departure, Emperor Wu of Liang ordered Cao Jingzong to camp in Daorenzhou, waiting for the follow-up of other armies. Cao Jingzong is a man who is good at fighting, but he is greedy, and his character cannot be compared with Wei Rui.He was not only greedy for money, but also greedy for merit. He wanted to monopolize the credit for saving the city, and ignored Emperor Liang Wu's prudent and repeated exhortations.After reaching Daorenzhou in the lower reaches, he ordered reinforcements to approach Shaoyangzhou in the upper reaches, intending to occupy this contested place first.

At this time, it rained suddenly, and the water level rose, drowning several soldiers who rushed forward.Cao Jingzong was unable to march and was forced to retreat to Daorenzhou to wait for backup. (The previous heavy rain caused Luokou to be defeated, and God finally helped Emperor Wu of Liang once this time.) Emperor Wu of Liang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and said in his heart that God's will supports my battle plan, "it will kill the thieves." He also ordered Wei Rui, who was stationed in Hefei, to go to reinforcements and be punished by Cao Jingzong.This arrangement is very ingenious, from which it can be seen that Emperor Wu of Liang had a thorough understanding of his generals.Wei Rui is more than ten years older than Cao Jingzong, but he is humble and indifferent to fame and fortune.With Cao as the leader and Wei as the deputy, it not only satisfies Cao Jingzong's psychology, but also makes use of Wei Rui's expertise. It is the most appropriate combination of generals.

Sure enough, Wei Rui received the edict, and immediately rushed to Zhongli city day and night, joined forces with Cao Jingzong, and willingly became his deputy, and Cao Jingzong also treated the elder brother with extra courtesy.The two cooperated closely and stationed in Shaoyangzhou to plan a decisive battle.Emperor Wu of Liang was rewarded in the court, and he exclaimed with relief: "The two generals are in harmony, and the teacher will help." Wei and Cao joined forces in February of the sixth year of Tianjian (the fourth year of Zhengshi in the Northern Wei Dynasty, 507 AD).It has been more than four months since the Wei army besieged Zhongli City. Changyizhi in the city fought a hundred times as much as his opponent with 3,000 soldiers, and it was not easy for the Wei army to take advantage of it.On the one hand, this is because the Huai River is separated, and the main force of the Wei army is mostly on the north bank. It has been raining for half of the time in the past few months, and the attacking army cannot move effectively. On the other hand, Changyizhi is indeed an expert in defending the city. The art of the city was brought to the extreme, and the Wei army attacked the city with nearly 10,000 casualties.

Yuan Ying, commander-in-chief of the Wei army, was very smart. He learned the experience and lessons of the previous attack on Zhongli City, and according to the characteristics of rainy early spring, he changed the water transportation method that northerners were not good at in the past to land transportation, and built two bridges on both sides of Shaoyangzhou with wooden fences. Connecting the north and the south, he attacked the city on the south bank, and asked Yang Dayan to guard the north bank and set up the city to ensure the smooth flow of grain roads.Emperor Xuanwu was worried that Shijiu's soldiers were exhausted and ordered him to retreat. He repeatedly stated on the table that "the reason must be conquered" (it must be won) and resolutely attacked the city.

Wei Rui carefully observed Wei Jun's arrangement on Shaoyang Island, and he knew the plan to defeat the enemy. He sneered and said, "Wei people are already on my plate!" Cao Jingzong built a military camp at the end of Shaoyang Island. The main force was far away, so Wei Rui pushed forward for twenty miles, dug a long ditch, and erected antlers. Feng Daogen, an expert subordinate who was good at measuring and calculating with horse steps, was in charge of the construction overnight.Early the next morning, the soldiers of the Wei Army came out of the camp and saw that there was clearly a Liang Army camp with excellent weapons, shiny armor and grand military appearance on Shaoyang Island, and they were stunned all of a sudden.Yuan Ying couldn't believe his eyes. Compared with the time it took him to build the two bridges, he slammed the ground with his scepter and said, "Wei Hu is a god!" Cao Jingzong recruited a few soldiers with good water skills to dive into the city at night. The defenders of Changyi, who were on the verge of despair, learned that reinforcements were coming. Most of their will recovered, and they had the motivation to continue defending the city. Yuanying finally felt the terrible pressure. He was so proud that he was unwilling to take back his promise to Emperor Xuanwu, so he temporarily changed his plan and attacked Wei Rui's reinforcements.Although Wei Hu is difficult to deal with, the number and strength of Wei Jun is still higher than that of Liang Jun.He sent the most powerful general, Yang Dayan, to eat Wei Rui in one bite. Yang Dayan is the grandson of Qiu Chi Yang Nandang, extremely brave and invincible, and even captured a tiger in the mountains with his own hands.Because he always keeps his eyes wide open on the battlefield, which frightens the enemy soldiers, so he is called big-eyed.People in the Southern Dynasties spread even more strangely, saying that his "eyes are like wheels", and everyone is afraid of him.Yuan Ying asked him to lead 10,000 cavalry to attack Wei Rui's barracks in order to use his deterrence against Liang Jun to break the myth of Wei Rui's invincibility. Sitting on a small wooden cart, Wei Rui gathered two thousand chariots in one place and formed a chariot formation.Yang Dayan's cavalry quickly surrounded them, blocking the chariot formation in the middle.Even if you, Wei Hu, are a tiger with wings, there is no escape from discipline. Yang Dayan was about to shrink the encirclement, only to realize that something was wrong.It turned out that Wei Rui had arranged a crossbow on each chariot, and when Yang Dayan's cavalry approached, he set up the crossbow and fired at once.The armor of the cavalry of the Wei Army could not withstand the power of the crossbow, and there were countless casualties. Yang Dayan's right arm was also shot through, and he was defeated. The next day, the chief general Yuan Ying reorganized the army and challenged him personally. Wei Rui commanded calmly and calmly.Wei Jun lost two more battles in a row.The majestic Wei Hu has a well-deserved reputation. It was too late for Yuanying to make plans.In March, the Huai River surged, and the moment of the decisive battle came.Equipped with large ships as high as the bridge, Wei Rui arranged for Feng Daogen, Pei Sui, Li Wenzhao and others to lead the water troops to attack Shaoyangzhou along the Huaihe River.On the other hand, he and Cao Jingzong divided into two groups, attacking North Bridge and South Bridge respectively.Liang Jun carried people in big boats, loaded grass and poured oil in small boats, and set fire to the bridge.The fire attack was ordered by Emperor Wu of Liang in advance, and Wei Rui and Cao Jingzong executed it very well. The fire took advantage of the wind, and the red light soared into the sky. Coupled with a burst of slashing by Liang Jun soldiers, the Huai River continued to surge, and the bridges and wooden fences were all destroyed.The Wei army on both sides of the strait and on Shaoyang Island was in chaos. More than 200,000 people were burned, drowned, trampled to death, and hacked to death.The rest had nowhere to escape, and the soldiers trapped on the island and the south bank collapsed collectively, put down their weapons, and surrendered on their knees.Yuanying fled to Liangcheng alone, and Yang Dayan on the north bank also burned his camp.The defense of Zhongli was an unprecedented victory in the Southern Dynasties for decades. Wei Rui sent someone to inform Chang Yizhi in Zhongli City of the victory.Changyi's sorrow and joy were mixed, and he didn't answer anything, yelling two words over and over again: "Rebirth! Rebirth!" "Rebirth" means resurrection, and it is a cry for life in a desperate situation. Just these two words are enough to make people realize that this victory has not come easily. Liang Jun was loaded with spoils and returned triumphantly. Cao Jingzong and other generals competed for victory, but Wei Rui walked behind alone.This wise elder who frightens the enemy has no intention of competing with his colleagues. He once again chose to keep a low profile at the most glorious moment of his life.However, historians still remember him as the protagonist of this battle. "The Biography of Wei Rui in the Book of Liang" commented on him at the end: "The battle of Shaoyang was very successful, and there is no reason to push it. You are a gentleman!"