Chapter 8 7. Lu Xun Rebellion

There were two Northern Expeditions by Liu Yu, the first to attack Nanyan, and the latter to attack Houqin. These were the last two Northern Expeditions before the demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and they were also two wonderful "performances" of the southern regime at the end of the Sixteen Kingdoms period.The details of these two Northern Expeditions should theoretically belong to the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms. If you are interested, you can refer to the more detailed introduction in the relevant paragraphs. There were some similarities between the two Northern Expeditions. For example, the target of the crusade was destroyed. Soon after the victory, Liu Yu returned to Jiankang due to problems in the rear, and failed to continue to expand the results of the battle.The difference is that Nan Yan was closer to the ruling center of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the territory obtained was easier to hold; the latter Qin was farther from the ruling center, and was surrounded by small countries full of Di and Rong, and its territory was soon lost to the northern countries. Reoccupy.

After careful consideration, Liu Yu's Northern Expedition was actually picking up "soft persimmons".Although the founders of Nanyan and Houqin were the Murong family and the Yao family who dominated the sixteen countries, the era when Liu Yu was in power was no longer what it used to be.The situation in these two countries is similar, both are young monarchs who have just ascended the throne not long ago, and the inner hearts are uncertain, and the national situation is getting worse. Sooner or later, they will be the fat in his population.The Northern Wei Dynasty had long intended to annex the Eryan in the Guandong, but they couldn't do it for a while; as for Guanzhong, it was a place where wolves fought for food and heroes must fight.For Liu Yu to destroy these two countries, the most important thing is to grasp the timing well, followed by military strategy.Liu Yu's military achievements are roughly similar to those of Cao Cao: Cao Cao unified the north and eliminated other warlords except Liu Bei and Sun Quan; Liu Yu unified the south and eliminated other major separatists except the Northern Wei and Xia power.Liu Yu's political ability was also top-notch during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but it was slightly inferior to Cao Cao.The most obvious point is that his prediction of the situation often seems lagging behind. For example, when he was attacking Nanyan, he failed to eliminate Lu Xun who was disrupting the situation first, and he never thought that this person could take advantage of the emptiness behind the Eastern Jin Dynasty to take advantage of the situation. Its underbelly was almost smashed.

Liu Yu's misjudgment can be forgiven. He could not have expected that there would be a talented person beside the wandering "thief". He offered Lu Xun many theoretically feasible and proven effective strategies.If Lu Xun hadn't missed the opportunity, the history after the Eastern Jin Dynasty might have been rewritten again. This great man is Lu Xun's famous general, Xu Daofu who uttered such rhetoric as "I have to run for a hero, the world is not stable". In the fifth year of Yixi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 409), Liu Yu led an army to attack Yan and besieged Nanyan's capital Guanggu for several months, leaving the southern army seriously empty.Xu Daofu believed that there was an opportunity to take advantage of, so he wrote to Lu Xun, urging him to go north to attack Jiankang, but Lu Xun refused to listen.Xu Daofu was anxious, so he ran to Panyu from Shixing where he was staying, met Lu Xun, and said: "Let's stay in Lingnan, where birds don't shit (During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Guangdong and Guangxi were still sparsely populated. , coupled with the many hills and inconvenient transportation, has always been despised as a barren land), how can it be reasonable, but that guy Liu Yu is so powerful that we can't beat him. Now he is fighting a tough battle, and he won't be able to return for a while Come on, if we can seize this opportunity to send troops, He Wuji, Liu Yi and others who are staying in the south are our opponents, and it will be easy to win. If we miss the opportunity, we can live here and wait for Liu Yu to break the Yan Kingdom. Rest up the soldiers, and within two years, they will definitely come to fight you, general. When he comes in person, even if the general is wise and powerful, he may not be his opponent. Don't miss this opportunity, and when the time comes, take the capital of the state of Jin , is the fundamental solution. Liu Yu wants to come back to rescue, but there is nothing he can do." Lu Xunmao, who was still dreaming of "partial safety dream", suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.

Therefore, Lu Xun joined Xu Daofu in Shixing the following year, and then divided his troops into two groups and went north to attack Jiankang.Commanded by Xu Daofu, the Eastern Route Army went down the Gan River to attack the counties of Nankang (now Ganzhou, Jiangxi), Luling (now Jishuibei, Jiangxi), and Yuzhang (now Nanchang, Jiangxi).The West Route Army, commanded by Lu Xun, attacked Changsha and other counties.The guards of the counties in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not resist and fled.Lu Xun's two armies advanced smoothly and were invincible. The court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had not received Liu Yu's battle report, but suffered a heavy blow first. The situation was critical and had to call Liu Yu back to the army.At this time, Xu Daofu's army had already arrived near Yuzhang. He Wuji, who had made great contributions in the Battle of Daohuan, was stationed in Xunyang at this time. Liu Yu's military achievements are outstanding, the court hates him, and there are not a few people who disobey him), the left and right persuaded him to stick to Xunyang and Yuzhang, and wait for work with ease, but he insisted on not listening, and ended up fighting with Xu Daofu outside Yuzhang City. Army meet.

Xu Daofu is indeed a talent. Before he sent troops, he was actively preparing for the war and collected a lot of shipbuilding materials. During the war, he built many large ships in ten days, which was very useful.He Wuji confronted Xu Daofu, but they only had small boats, not a big boat at all, and the soldiers he led quickly scattered and fled. Although He Wuji was brave, he was outnumbered and died on the spot. When the news of He Wuji's death came, the defense line of the Eastern Jin Dynasty collapsed, and the court was greatly shocked, and even planned to abandon the capital and go north to Liu Yu.Fortunately, Liu Yu had already obtained the imperial edict, leaving Nan Yan to surrender Han Fan, Feng Rong and others, and lead the army back south. (Over time, his right-hand man Liu Muzhi charged Han Fan and Feng Rongan with treason and got rid of them.)

When Liu Yu returned to Shanyang (now Huai'an, Jiangsu Province), he heard the news of He Wuji's death in battle. Worried that the capital would fall, he marched day and night with elite cavalry, and brought dozens of people in low clothes to Huaishang. Pedestrians inquire about the latest situation in the capital.The passer-by said: "The thief hasn't arrived in the capital yet. If Liu Yu comes back now, there is nothing to worry about!" (It can be seen that Liu Yu was already trusted and valued by ordinary people at that time.) Go south, cross the Yangtze River, and enter Jingkou.The Eastern Jin court took reassurance and became a little more stable.

However, only one month later, another hero of Daohuan, Liu Yi, was defeated in the confrontation with Lu Xun, and the situation became tense again.It turned out that Lu Xun and Xu Dao covered several counties in Lianke, and Liu Yi had been seriously ill and failed to send troops in time. As soon as he recovered from his illness, he decided to go south to conquer Lu Xun.Liu Yusheng was afraid that Liu Yi would act rashly, so he wrote a letter himself, persuading him, saying: "The thieves have won a new victory, and they are vigorous. I am going to build a ship now, and when I finish, I will send troops with you." Liu Yu also promised to defeat the enemy and win the battle. At that time, he handed over the power of appointment in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to Liu Yi, fearing that he would not listen, so he sent Liu Yi's younger brother Liu Fan to deliver the letter.As for Liu Yi, he resolutely refused, and said angrily: "I just gave the credit to Liu Yu back then, do you really think I can't compare with Liu Yu?" The Wanshui Army went up the river from Gushu, where it was stationed, and marched to find Yang.

At this time, Lu Xun's West Route Army had captured Baling and was about to attack Jiangling, while Xu Daofu's East Route Army was approaching Xunyang. Hearing that Liu Yi was coming, he immediately sent a fast horse to inform Lu Xun, saying: "Liu Yi has a large number of troops. The matter of success or failure depends on one action, you and I should fight together. If this battle is won, the world will be settled, and Jiangling will be less worrying." Lu Xun was very happy, and he went down the river from Baling to join forces with Xu Daofu In one place, they marched together and fought against Liu Yi's army in Sangluozhou (now northeast of Jiujiang, Jiangxi).Lu Xun's two naval forces numbered as many as 100,000. Liu Yi was no match at all. He was defeated, lost his boat, and fled on foot with hundreds of followers. The rest of his troops, boats, and weapons were captured by Lu Xun.

(It can also be seen from the failure of He Wuji and Liu Yi that although both of them and Liu Yu were the number one hero in raising troops to destroy Huanxuan, they are different in ability. He Wuji and Liu Yi are both Dissatisfied with Liu Yu, but the record cannot be denied after all, Liu Yu is indeed worthy of the title of the first person at the end of the Jin Dynasty.) Lu Xun and Xu Daofu took advantage of the victory to fight to Jiangning. Jiankang was near in front of them. The number of soldiers reached more than 100,000. The ships stretched for hundreds of miles.There were only a few thousand soldiers in Jiankang City who could resist. Seeing that the capital was in danger, calls for the imperial court to move north across the river became louder and louder. Meng Chang even believed that Liu Yu was not Lu Xun's opponent. Liu Yu thought: "Once the imperial court If you move, the whole situation will fall apart. How can Jiangbei survive? Although there are not many soldiers, we can still fight a battle. If we win, everyone will be safe. If we really can’t win, I will take responsibility How can you survive for an inch of your life? I have made a plan, so you don’t need to talk about it!” Meng Chang was still extremely pessimistic, so he made a statement to the court, saying that it was wrong for him to agree with Liu Yu’s Northern Expedition. The country was in danger, and after finishing writing, he committed suicide by taking poison.

In fact, Meng Chang was half right, and Liu Yu was right about the other half. With the character of a gambler, if he was half sure, he would at least give him a gamble.The final result proved that Liu Yu's foresight was accurate, luck was good, and Bo won.Let me talk about the half of Meng Chang first, Xu Daofu, the general beside Lu Xun, is not only knowledgeable, but also courageous.He knew that his side was in an absolute advantage, and Liu Yu's army was still resting due to injuries. Jiankang, a decisive battle with Liu Yu.But Liu Yu's half was bet on Lu Xun. Lu Xun was more suspicious than decisive, because he was frightened when he heard the news of Liu Yu's return to the army, so he hesitated and only confronted Liu Yu, delaying the best opportunity.Lu Xun's wishful thinking was to retreat to Xunyang, capture Jiangling, and use the territory of the two states to confront the imperial court (the strategist's vision is often contrasted with the comparison of ordinary people's thoughts and views).Xu Daofu let out a long sigh, and uttered that lament and heroic words: "I was wronged by Lu Gong in the end, and nothing will happen; if I have to be a hero, the world will not be settled."

During the confrontation, Liu Yu recruited many recruits in the capital area, strengthened his forces, and gathered a large army to guard Stone City.Liu Yu also adopted the strategy of his subordinate Yu Qiujin (note that this person has the compound surname Yuqiu, single name Jin, not Yu), and built defensive fences around the city, and built the three left fortresses of Chapu, Yaoyuan, and Tingwei. Send troops to defend. After the fortifications were completed, when Lu Xun came to fight again, he was no longer lucky. He couldn't get down the fence for two consecutive months. The boat also encountered a summer storm, capsized and drowned many people.Lu Xun shook his head and said to Xu Daofu: "Hey, the army is tired and it's hard to cheer up. Let's stick to Xunyang, take Jingzhou to the west, and go down all day." He had to order to retreat to Xunyang. (It is estimated that Xu Daofu was so angry with hatred at this time, he thought to himself: "You deserve it, if you knew today, why did you have to pity me, Xu Daofu, in the end, it will be unlucky to be with you!") However, the trend of victory and defeat reversed, and it was difficult to recover. Liu Yu got the most important wealth-time, and began to build large ships, train water troops, and form a powerful army.At the same time, he sent Sun Chu and Shen Tianzi to lead 3,000 soldiers to attack Lu Xun's rear lair Panyu by sea.Lu Xun's army went northward, and almost all of them were dispatched. Panyu's defense had long been ignored. When Sun Chu and others came to Panyu, they attacked the few defenders in a foggy day and succeeded in one fell swoop. Lu Xun's troops in the north fell into a passive state across the board: Xu Dao attacked Jiangling, and Lu Xun himself was defeated in Leichi. He wanted to flee to Yuzhang, and built a fence in the Zuoli area (northwest of Duchang, Jiangxi today), but he couldn't stop it. Liu Yu's powerful offensive from Xinjian's navy caused heavy casualties, and Lu Xun escaped in a small boat. Lu Xun and Xu Daofu retreated to Guangzhou, still wanting to resist.At the beginning of the seventh year of Yixi (AD 411), Xu Daofu's Shixing City was captured by the Jin army, and Xu Daofu died in battle.Lu Xun was unable to attack Panyu, which was defended by Sun Chu, and continued to retreat into Jiaozhou, and was finally forced to a river in Longbian (now northern Vietnam), where he threw himself into the river.The last major civil strife at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty—the Sun En Lu Xun Rebellion has come to an end.