Chapter 17 Sixteen, short-lived

The so-called "protecting the king and returning to the north" actually means that Emperor Wu of Liang wanted to control and occupy the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty by training puppets.There is no essential difference between this and the Northern Wei Dynasty's establishment of Liu Chang as the king of Song to defeat Qi, and Xiao Baokui as the king of Qi to defeat Liang.Later generations marveled at, admired, or disdained Chen Qingzhi's performance of winning more with less, but often overlooked a fundamental question, why did Emperor Wu of Liang only give Chen Qingzhi so few soldiers, and what did this Northern Expedition mean for Liang?

We need to consider and answer this question from the perspective of Emperor Wu of Liang. First of all, this is a tentative military operation.Emperor Wu of Liang repeatedly attacked the cities in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River at all costs.After taking over the important town of Shouyang, Liang Guo lost the motivation to continue to forge ahead.Whether the lower reaches of the Yellow River can be taken down, and whether it can be defended, the three failures of Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty are a lesson from the past. Emperor Wu of Liang is neither sure nor hopeful.Therefore, based on the mentality of "no loss if you lose, and steady profit if you win", to launch a comprehensive mobilization, it is better to send a small number of infantry and cavalry with strong combat effectiveness to march northward. The buffer state under control can at worst mess up your Northern Wei Dynasty even more.

Secondly, Chen Qingzhi does not have the qualifications to lead a large army.In terms of ability, Chen Qingzhi is an excellent general, but he may not be qualified for the post of commander.If tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 soldiers and horses were really mobilized, it would be difficult for Emperor Liang Wu to find suitable candidates to entrust important tasks in a country where talents were severely withered.Therefore, it is the best match to hand over the small number of troops to Chen Qingzhi, whom he trusts, and let him give full play to his advantages of daring to fight against the enemy.Emperor Wu of Liang's arrangement seemed unimaginable, but in fact he had good intentions.

In addition, Emperor Wu of Liang was aware of the chaos within the Northern Wei Dynasty, but limited by media conditions, it was impossible to have a very comprehensive understanding.Most of the information comes from the dictation of Wang Yuanhao of Beihai who defected to him, and the clan Yuanfa monk who surrendered before.Although Liang and Wei had a tendency to reconcile before, they were still hostile countries, and the information obtained from the enemy countries should be marked with question marks.If too many people are handed over to Yuan Hao, not only will it be easy to lose control, but it may also cause fire and bring shame on oneself.Another identity of Chen Qingzhi's trip is to closely monitor the puppet Yuan Hao.

What is valuable about Chen Qingzhi is that he can conscientiously carry out this task with little chance of success and many mysteries, turning the battlefield into a stage for miracles. Chen Qingzhi's white-robed guards set off from Zhicheng (now west of Suzhou, Anhui), won the first battle in the third year of Liang Datong (the second year of Yong'an in the Northern Wei Dynasty, AD 529), conquered Xingcheng (now south of Shangqiu, Henan), and entered Liangjun (now Shangqiu area of ​​Henan).Liang County is located in the northwest of Xuzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, bordering Sizhou in the west and Yanzhou in the north, choking the main traffic routes.There were tens of thousands of Wei soldiers in Suiyang City in Liang County and Kao City in the north (now northeast of Minquan, Henan Province), guarded by Governor Qiu Daqian and Jiyin King Yuan Huiye respectively. Among them, Yuan Huiye led the Yulin soldiers of the imperial court.

The main force of the Northern Wei Dynasty was near Luoyang at this time, led by Er Zhurong's confidant Yuan Tianmu.Yuan Tianmu didn't pay attention to Chen Qingzhi, whose number was less than 10,000.Because Xing Gao of Qingzhou was causing chaos in Jinan and there were a large number of people, after discussing with his subordinates, he decided to destroy Xing Gao first, and then come back to rescue Liang County and solve Yuan Hao and Chen Qingzhi. Yuan Tianmu miscalculated.Chen Qing's people are few, but they are all elites.He attacked Qiu Daqian's Liang County by taking advantage of the situation. Qiu Daqian had an absolute numerical advantage, but he made a fatal mistake. Tens of thousands of guards were scattered in nine fortresses. Chen Qingzhi concentrated his forces and broke through three of them in one day.Qiu Daqian lost his courage and dared not fight any more, so he asked to surrender to Xiancheng, and Chen Qingzhi embraced Yuan Hao and entered Suiyang City.Yuan Hao ascended the throne in the south of Suiyang City and changed to Yuan Dynasty, becoming the "Emperor of Wei State" supported by Liang State.Chen Qingzhi was "appointed" by Yuan Hao as General Wei and Governor of Xuzhou.

The task seemed to have been completed, and Chen Qingzhi did not stop there.He immediately went north to defeat the Yulin soldiers in Kaocheng, and captured the guard Yuan Huiye alive. Liang Jun marched westward, and the cities he passed watched the wind and surrendered, and soon came to the city of Xingyang.Xingyang is the last big city east of Luoyang, its importance is self-evident.Yuan Tianmu had just killed Xing Gao in Jinan at this time, and was on his way back to the army. The Northern Wei Dynasty had to transfer the remaining 70,000 troops near Luoyang to Xingyang and the two passes to the west - Hulao and Shenyuan. Yang Yu, governor of the Southeast Province, guarded Xingyang, while Er Zhurong's two cousins, Er Zhu Shilong and Er Zhu Shicheng, guarded Hulao and Shenyuan.

The siege of Xingyang was extremely difficult. The army in the city was several times larger than that of Chen Qingzhi, and Liang's first attack was repelled.What was even more unfavorable was that the reinforcements from Yuan Tianmu and Er Zhurong's nephew Er Zhuzhao were about to arrive, and the banners were unfurled, which could be seen from a distance.Liang Jun's soldiers were frightened up and down, showing a cowardly mentality. Only Chen Qingzhi was not panicked at all. He ordered the soldiers to take a break, eat and drink enough, and then climbed up and shouted: "Since our army has conquered cities and lands, there have been many attacks; the acts of kings who killed and looted women are also innumerable." (It can be seen from this that Liang Jun's combat effectiveness is strong, but his military discipline is very bad. He won all the way but did not win the hearts of the people of Wei, and the final defeat is inevitable.) Yuan Tianmu's reinforcements are all our enemies. Our army is only 7,000. More than 300,000 Wei troops (this is a fictitious reference to the total number of Wei troops, not the number of guards in the city of Xingyang, nor the number of reinforcements outside the city. Some people questioned the credibility of the war with this, but actually misunderstood Chen Qingzhi's large number of The number of enemy troops motivates the soldiers to fight hard). Today, either I will die or the enemy will be defeated! Do not confront the enemy cavalry on the plain, and take down the city first. Don’t hesitate, gentlemen, lest you will perish yourself!"

After finishing speaking, Chen Qing ordered the beating of drums to attack the city, and all the seven thousand soldiers rushed towards the city wall of Xingyang like crazy ants.Yang Yu in the city was planning to leave the city to attack as soon as the reinforcements arrived, how could he have thought that the Liang army would be so vicious?It was too late to deploy defenses hastily.The soldiers at the head of Liang Jun had already turned in from the gap in the city wall, and charged into the city like a rainbow.The Wei soldiers in Xingyang suffered heavy casualties, and Yang Yu was also made a prisoner. (After the war, Yuan Hao thought he was loyal and would not surrender, so he let him live. However, Liang Jun killed the captured generals in the city, which further intensified the hatred between the two sides.)

Liang Jun took control of Xingyang, and Yuan Tianmu's vanguard also approached the city.Taking advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold, Chen Qingzhi suddenly led 3,000 cavalry out of the city to fight.Wei Jun came from afar, and before he could set up his position, he was severely beaten and collapsed all of a sudden. The Battle of Xingyang is a classic work of Chen Qingzhi's fame in the Central Plains. In both siege and field battles, he was able to take surprises, win battles quickly, and maximize the mobility of the army. It has the style of modern "blitzkrieg".The children in Luoyang City also sang "Famous teachers and generals don't jail themselves, thousands of soldiers and horses avoid white robes", and the defenders of the Northern Wei Dynasty fled.Yuan Tianmu led his troops back to Hebei, Erzhu Shilong abandoned Hulao, and his younger brother Erzhu Shicheng abandoned Yuanyuan, and was killed on the way to escape.

There was no more danger to the east of Luoyang. Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei Dynasty couldn't stay in Luoyang anymore. He secretly fled to Hanoi (now Qinyang, Henan) with his cronies, and then went north to Bingzhou to join Er Zhurong.The nearby cities surrendered to Yuan Hao one after another.Yuan Hao and Chen Qingzhi entered Luoyang to receive worship from the officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty.The army of the Southern Dynasty occupied Luoyang City for the last time. Huan Wen, Xie Xuan, Liu Yu and others had conquered Luoyang before, but only this time, Luoyang was captured as the capital of the Northern Dynasty. The only good thing the puppet Yuan Hao did in Luoyang was to kill Fei Mu, one of the chief culprits of the Heyin tragedy (the evil will be rewarded with evil).Once he was firmly seated on the throne, he didn't want to be controlled by Liang Guo anymore, but after all, there were Northern Wei troops on all sides, and he still had to rely on Chen Qingzhi's assistance.Chen Qingzhi also realized that he had played too hard, completely exceeding the expected goal.He proposed to Yuan Hao: "Our army is too small and deep in the enemy's hinterland. If the enemy knows the truth, how can we stop it? It is the right way to ask the south for rescue early!" Yuan Yanming, king of Anfeng beside Yuan Hao, said: "Chen Qing's army is only a few thousand, and it is already difficult to control. If he is asked to increase his troops, how can he listen to us?" Yuan Hao nodded in agreement, and he hurriedly submitted a letter to Emperor Wu of Liang, saying: "Now that Hebei and Henan have been pacified, there is only Er Zhurong's small force left, and Chen Qingzhi and I are enough to capture it. The states and counties have recently been attached and need to be appeased. It is not appropriate to increase troops to disturb the people." Emperor Liang Wu ordered other troops to stay at the border to wait and see after hearing Yuan Hao's words, cutting off the possibility of reinforcements. (There has always been a lot of controversy about whether Emperor Wu of Liang should continue to send troops into the Wei state. Chen Qingzhi's adventure was successful because of quite accidental factors, and it was fraught with danger. Increasing troops does not mean that the results of the battle will be expanded, and losses may also be expanded.) When the suspicion between Yuan Hao and Chen Qingzhi deepened, Er Zhurong's hundreds of thousands of soldiers marched to the north bank of the Yellow River. On the north bank of the Yellow River in the northeast of Luoyang, there is a small city called Beizhong City, which is close to the river bridge on the Yellow River.Yuan Hao sent Chen Qingzhi to guard Beizhong City with his thousands of white-robed troops, while he himself led the soldiers from the Northern Wei Dynasty to guard the south bank.Er Zhurong repeatedly attacked Beizhongcheng (sieges are so fierce, and Liang Jun is good at defending the city), and there were not enough boats to cross the river from other places, so he almost planned to withdraw his troops before thinking about it. Huang Menlang Yang Kan persuaded: "Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. How can a small defeat be abolished? Yuan Hao has lost the popularity of the people, and the people in all directions are counting on Ming Gong to recover the capital as soon as possible. In my opinion, it is better to recruit the nearby soldiers. The people tied up rafts and lined them up for hundreds of miles along the river, teaching Yuan Hao that he was invincible. Once he crossed the river, he would surely succeed!" Er Zhurong was greatly inspired, and while he sent people to find several small boats that could serve as guides nearby, he ordered Er Zhuzhao and He Basheng to prepare a large number of rafts.One late night, Er Zhurong's army marched from Mazhu Ferry to the south bank, defeating Yuan Yanming's defenders.Yuan Hao abandoned the city and fled south, his followers were separated, and he was beheaded by the county soldiers in Linying.Seeing that the situation was over, Chen Qingzhi packed up thousands of cavalry and returned eastward. Er Zhurong chased after him all the way. On the way, Liang Jun was washed away by Yingshui during the flood season. Chen Qingzhi shaved his hair and pretended to be a monk. The efforts of the white-robed army were in vain, and as the last hero of Nanliang, Chen Qingzhi also sighed in vain.The two changes of hands in Luoyang City were just a small episode in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which lasted only 65 days.