Chapter 55 Eight, Wendi Xingchen

The emperors who came to power in the Northern Dynasties were younger and more handsome than the last, but the Southern Chen embraced a seemingly "old" monarch—the thirty-eight-year-old Chen Wendi Chen Qian. Although Chen Wudi Chen Baxian was invincible on the battlefield, he couldn't resist the temptation of power. He hurried to the emperor's throne before unifying the south of the Yangtze River, which made the simple problem complicated. According to Wang Lin, the general of Wang Sengbian's Department guarding Changsha, refused to accept Chen Baxian's account, refused to surrender, and commanded the warship to sail down the river, claiming to avenge Wang Sengbian.Originally, this was a struggle between two military factions. Chen Ba first used the emperor to command the princes and seize the initiative, and he easily won. However, he lost his political correctness by using Chen to replace Liang, and the army he sent to suppress Wang Lin also became unknown. On the contrary, Wang Lin's local army became a righteous army against rebellion.As a result, in Zhuankou (now southwest of Hanyang, Hubei Province), the Chen army led by Hou Andu and Zhou Wenyu was defeated by Wang Lin, who commanded Ruoding. The general Zhou Tiehu was killed, and Hou Andu and Zhou Wenyu were captured. Only then escaped with his life.

Emperor Chen Wu reigned for less than three years, and he did not complete the unification of half of the country until his death.The middle reaches of the Yangtze River to the west of Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province) were almost completely occupied by Wang Lin.Wang Lin simply moved the government office from Changsha, Xiangzhou to Yingzhou (now Wuchang, Hubei), stationed troops on the Yangtze River, and professed his vassalship to Northern Qi in the north of the river, and welcomed Xiaozhuang, the grandson of Emperor Liang Yuan and King Yongjia, to Yingzhou (Xiaozhuang was in In the previous Qi-Liang war, he went to Northern Qi as a hostage) and was promoted as the emperor of Liang Guo to fight against Chen Guo.Unexpectedly, Hou Liang took advantage of the gap to enter, copied Wang Lin's back route, and captured Changsha and other counties.In this way, there are three kingdoms in the small middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River: Chen in Jiankang, Liang in Yingzhou, and Houliang in Jingzhou. The two vassals of Liang are the spokespersons of Qi and Zhou in the south.

So a great responsibility fell on the shoulders of Emperor Chen Wendi, the successor of Emperor Wu of Chen.From this point of view, Emperor Chen Wen is not the king of success, but the master of creation. Chen Wendi Chen Qian is the eldest son of Chen Daotan, the elder brother of Chen Wudi.Chen Daotan died in Hou Jing's rebellion, and Chen Qian was imprisoned by Hou Jing and was almost murdered.After Hou Jing died, Chen Qian was entrusted with an important task by Emperor Chen Wu. She fought many beautiful battles and was very famous in the court and the Chinese army.Emperor Wu of Chen had a youngest son, Chen Chang. Emperor Yuan of Liang established Jiangling as his capital. Chen Ba first garrisoned Jingkou, and left Chen Chang and Chen Qian’s second brother Chen Xu in Jiangling as "protons". Later, the Western Wei Dynasty captured Jiangling and both brothers were captured. To the Western Wei Dynasty.So when Emperor Wu of Chen died, Chen Chang was not by his side.Empress Zhang hoped that Northern Zhou would send back her own son, but she was reluctant to determine the heir. In the end, under the pressure of military generals such as Du Ling, Zhongshu's servant Cai Jingli, and Hou Andu, she had to make up the will. Qian joined the Datong.

Hearing that Emperor Wu of Chen passed away, Wang Lin was overjoyed. Taking advantage of Chen Qian's unstable foundation, she ordered her subordinate Sun Yu to guard Yingzhou, and led the land and water army to march eastward.Northern Qi also sent general Murong Yan to Jiangbei to support Wang Lin. Wang Lin won the first battle, defeated the Chen general Wu Mingche who came to stop him, and took advantage of the victory to station in Zhakou (now southeast of Wuwei, Anhui).Emperor Chen Wen took his time and ordered Taiwei Hou Zhen and Sikong Hou Andu to lead the army to resist.Hou Zhen and Wang Lin used to be Wang Sengbian's subordinates. After Wang Sengbian's death, the two parted ways, one supporting Chen and the other supporting Liang.Hou Zhen knew Wang Lin's way of using troops very well, so he didn't fight head-on with him, and all the armies in charge of the army fought against him in Wuhu in the east of the river, and it dragged on from November of the first year to February of the next year.As soon as spring came, the river surged, and Wang Lin's fleet launched an attack with great momentum. Hou Zhen led the Chen army to fight calmly and successfully intercepted it.Wang Lin's ship was damaged and surrendered to the West Bank.At this moment, news came from Yingzhou that Beizhou and Houliang, who had been coveting for a long time, found that Yingzhou was empty, and sent Jingzhou governor Shi Ning to lead tens of thousands of raids. The military situation was urgent.

Wang Lin was in a dilemma. If she returned to rescue Yingzhou, not to mention that it would be too late, once the soldiers under her command knew about it, they would be defeated without fighting.He put his mind to rest and ordered a quick march, intending to destroy Chen Guo first.When the southwest wind was blowing, the section of the Yangtze River from Wuhu happened to flow northeast. Wang Lin was in a favorable wind, thinking that "God is helping me", and rushed to Jiankang desperately. Wang Lin did not expect that Hou Zhen was by no means a martial artist, but a person who knew how to adapt to changing situations.He saw it clearly by the riverside, gently passed Wang Lin's fleet, and then chased after him. In this way, the southwest wind was used by Hou Zhen.Wang Lin's soldiers threw torches at Chen Jun, and when the strong wind blew, all the fire burned to Wang Lin's army, but Chen Jun was fine.Hou Zhen quickly rammed the enemy ship with a small boat, spraying hot molten iron, and Wang Lin's fleet suddenly became a sea of ​​​​flames, causing heavy casualties.

The water army in the river retreated westward, and the Qi army who came to meet them didn't understand what was going on. The two armies stepped on the bank, trampled on each other, and sank into the mud of the reeds.Wang Lin took a dozen of her relatives and fled to Pancheng (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi) in embarrassment in a small boat, and did not dare to return to Yingzhou (I don't know whether the surname is Liang or Zhou now), and escorted Xiaozhuang to the Northern Qi Dynasty. up. In fact, under the leadership of Sun Yu, Yingzhou had a lot of achievements. Thousands of guards managed to hold back the army of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.Originally expecting Wang Lin to be victorious and triumphant, everyone celebrated together, but who would have expected that Wang Lin would never return, and Chen Guo's army would take advantage of the victory to catch up.Seeing that it was not easy to take advantage of this advantage, Bei Zhou had no choice but to make a rescue.The boss Wang Lin ran away, and Chen Jun's morale was high again. Sun Jue knew that it would be useless to defend, so he broke down the city in tears and surrendered to Chen Jun.

Once the foreign enemies who had troubled for many years were eliminated, Emperor Chen Wen was about to celebrate, and Yu Wenhu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty sent him a "congratulatory gift"-cousin Chen Chang. Chen Chang's life as a prisoner in Northern Zhou was not too bad. In the past, Emperor Wu of Chen asked Northern Zhou for his son many times.After the death of Emperor Chen Wu, the value of "odd goods" rapidly depreciated, but Yu Wenhu suddenly realized that he decided to let Chen Chang go back to the country.The intention is self-evident, to separate the Chen brothers, it is best to cause internal fighting and profit from it.Yu Wenhu's chess move is really beyond praise.

First of all, when Emperor Chen Wu was in power, he didn't send Chen Chang back to prepare to succeed him.If Chen Chang was sent back to the country at that time, Chen Chang was almost the inevitable heir to the throne, then the Northern Zhou Dynasty would have the grace of rebuilding the new emperor of Chen State.Even if Chen Chang, who is alone and lonely, does not want to be kind, at least he still needs the support of Bei Zhou to secure the throne. Can the benefits Bei Zhou earn from it be small? Secondly, after Emperor Chen Wen ascended the throne, Yu Wenhu still had a better strategy.After all, Chen Chang is Emperor Chen Wu's own son, and the legitimacy of his succession is higher than that of Chen Qian. If the Northern Zhou Dynasty gave Chen Chang the title of King Chen, then send troops to escort Chen Chang to Jiangnan to become emperor, and at the same time actively win over all supporters. Wouldn't it be good for Chen Chang's "orthodox faction" to set up a puppet regime similar to Houliang?

The worst way is to sing a high-profile plan to send Chen Chang back to China, while not giving political and military support, and fry a potential stock into a junk stock for nothing. However, Chen Chang was still uninterested, and he did not have the legacy of his father at all. Before returning to China, he complacently wrote a letter to his cousin, full of longing for a "beautiful future", and his words were very blunt. Emperor Wen Wen almost lost his temper when he read the letter, and he still wants to fight for the throne with me just because of his appearance!However, he had to do enough superficial articles. He found Hou Andu (the famous generals Du Sengming and Zhou Wenyu in Emperor Wu's era had both passed away, and only Hou Andu was left), and said with a sad face: "The prince is coming back soon." , I just ask for a piece of land, and I will be a vassal king for the rest of my life."

Hou Andu was upright, and immediately replied: "Since ancient times, there is no reason for the emperor to be replaced? The humble minister is dull and dare not obey the imperial edict!" He expressed his willingness to "share the worries" for Emperor Wen and go to pick up Chen Chang. Chen Chang boarded the big ship of the "motherland" to welcome him with a happy face, and after crossing the Yangtze River, he became a corpse.Hou Andu reported that the big ship was damaged in the river, and the emperor's younger brother drowned unfortunately. Emperor Chen Wen got the news, went out of the city in person, and performed a big show of "a cat crying for a mouse" in front of his cousin's coffin, and then issued an order to bury Chen Chang with royal rites.

Chen Chang lost his life, but Chen Xu, another member of the Southern Chen royal family in the hands of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was much luckier, after all, he was the younger brother of Emperor Chen Wen.After negotiations, Emperor Chen Wen agreed to cede the southwest Guizhou and Lushan (the area at the junction of Hubei and Chongqing today), and exchanged it for Chen Xu in the third year of Tianjia (562 A.D.).With the support of Emperor Chen Wen, Chen Xu rose to the top and became the important right-hand man of Emperor Wen. Emperor Chen Wen continued to consolidate his rule: to the west, he ordered Hou Zhen to take back Xiangzhou (now Changsha, Hunan) and Bazhou (now Yueyang, Hunan) occupied by the Northern Zhou Dynasty; ), Xiong Tanlang from Dongyang (now Jinhua, Zhejiang), Chen Baoying from Jin'an (now Fuzhou, Fujian), and Zhou Di from Linchuan (now Fuzhou, Jiangxi).These people are local tyrants and chiefs from the Xi and Yue clans. They ruled one side, surrendered and rebelled from time to time. When the court had foreign enemies, they were powerless to deal with them. They could only win over and appease them. The last grasshopper jumped up in a few days. At this point, Chen Guocai really owned the entire Jiangnan land. Although the territory was reduced by half compared with that of the Liang Dynasty, the common people could live a peaceful life for a few days at least. The year name of Emperor Chen Wen when he came to the throne was "Tianjia". Emperor Wen's ideal of governing the country.Emperor Chen Wen did have the demeanor of these two emperors back then. He understood the hardships of the people in his early years, so he advocated frugality, lenient corvees and small taxes, and recuperated. The economy gradually recovered from the dilapidation after the Hou Jing Rebellion. No one is perfect, and Emperor Chen Wen was not so diligent in his administration in the later period, and people became suspicious.He bestowed the death of Hou Andu, who had meritorious service, and followed the example of Emperor Wu of Liang, playing the "game" of sacrificing his life to return to Buddhism (Buddhism in the Southern Dynasties did not decline because of the death of Emperor Wu of Liang, but set off a new climax in the Chen Dynasty. Several monarchs starting from Emperor Chen Wu were all faithful believers in Buddhism). Fortunately, Emperor Chen Wen died of illness in the first year of Tiankang (566 AD), and he was not as late as Emperor Wu of Liang.But some people are not so lucky, such as his "comrade" Han Zigao.