Chapter 9 8. Two Lius are fighting each other

Within three years, Liu Yu wiped out Nanyan and wiped out Lu Xun. The former was planned, but the latter was unexpected.In any case, the credit cannot be escaped. He was named Taiwei and Zhongshujian by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Liu Muzhi became his Taiwei Sima.Liu Muzhi not only took care of the affairs of Taiwei's mansion in an orderly manner, but also recommended to Liu Yu Meng Chang's subordinate Xie Hui who joined the army.Xie Hui is the great-grandson of Xie An's elder brother Xie Ju. He is very good at handling affairs and getting out of prison. With power in his hands, Liu Yu promulgated a series of rules and regulations. After the ravages of Huan Xuan, Sun En, Lu Xun and others, the Jiangnan area where the people were displaced gradually recovered, and the phenomenon of mergers of wealthy families also subsided.

Among the trio who rose up together back then, He Wuji was dead, leaving only Liu Yu and Liu Yi.In other words, Liu Yi is the only one who poses the greatest threat to Liu Yu's power.Liu Yi was indeed very dissatisfied with Liu Yu, who was in power. He was different from Liu Yu. Although he was a gambler back then, he had read a lot of books and had good literary talents. There were not a few people who followed him.Therefore, he has a stubborn personality and never thinks that Liu Yu is much better than him.Sang Luozhou was defeated by the coalition forces of Lu Xun and Xu Daofu in the First World War. He lost almost all his belongings. Although Liu Yu had always opposed him entering the army alone, he did not blame him and let him return to his post.Liu Yi felt that he had lost the battle and it was difficult to convince the crowd. He voluntarily asked to be demoted to General Wei, but he still retained the post of governor of Yuzhou.

In the eighth year of Yixi (AD 412), Liu Yu's younger brother, Liu Daogui, the governor of Jingzhou, returned home due to illness, which gave Liu Yu an opportunity to reshuffle the cards and deal with Liu Yi.In the name of the imperial court, he appointed Liu Yi as the general of Wei, the governor of the four prefectures of Jing, Ning, Qin, and Yong, and became the governor of Jingzhou, and gave himself the title of governor of Yuzhou.Liu Yu's move seems to have promoted Liu Yi and handed over the military power in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River to him in name, but in fact, he was not so shrewd.Liu Yu understands Liu Yi's gambling habit. The amount he bets has always been beyond imagination. Such a person who dares to take risks and make surprises will not be small in ambition, and his appetite will not be easily satisfied; Liu Yu also knows that Liu Yi Very arrogant, he once said: "It's a pity that I can't catch up with Liu Bang and Xiang Yu's era, and I can't compete with them for the Central Plains!" For such a person, no matter what position he is placed in, he will not be willing to be inferior. Instead, they will secretly work hard to accumulate the power to seize power.He is in Yuzhou, which is too close to the capital, so out of safety considerations, he will not fully use his hands and feet, and pay attention to the concealment of his actions.Since this is the case, it is better to "play hard to catch", put him to the west first, give him room to expand his strength, let him show his true colors, and then take the opportunity to attack him, and then he can become famous.

Sure enough, before Liu Yi went to Jingzhou, he wanted to further win over Liu Lao's son, Liu Jingxuan, the left guard general (Liu Jingxuan fled to Nanyan to avoid disaster after Liu Lao's death; after Huan Xuan was defeated by Liu Yu and others, he He returned to Jiankang from Nanyan with Sima Xiuzhi and others).Liu Yi said to him: "I went to Jingzhou to take up a post, and I plan to entrust you with important tasks. I wonder if you have any intention of assisting?" Liu Jingxuan broke into a cold sweat when he heard this remark--Liu Yi's tone clearly intended to rebel!He had no choice but to hesitate and agree, then ran back to Liu Yu, and told Liu Yu exactly what Liu Yi had said. Unexpectedly, Liu Yu replied with a smile: "Brother, just relax, don't worry too much." (I don’t know if Liu Yu’s words have reached Liu Yi’s ears. It must be a private conversation. Based on Liu Yi’s understanding of Liu Yu, if he heard Liu Yu say that, he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully at night. "On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to snore?" Political figures like Liu Yu and Liu Yi understand it very well. Only a fool would think that Liu Yu is defenseless. If he dares to say such a thing, it can be seen that he has a plan in his chest. If you say If Liu Yu was just a villain when Huanxuan was eliminated, then Liu Yu at this time has already started to follow the route of a villain.)

The impatient person first showed his anger. Liu Yi said on the table that the number of household registrations in Jingzhou had dropped sharply after the Huanxuan Rebellion, and there were few weapons. It was not easy to form an army. agree.Liu Yi then asked for the appointment of his confidant Xi Sengshi as the captain of Nanman and Sima of the rear army, and Mao Xiuzhi as the prefect of Nanjun, and Liu Yu agreed as usual. Hu Fan, the Ningyuan general beside Liu Yu, was not so politically savvy. He reminded Liu Yu self-righteously, "Does Liu Gong think that Liu Yi is someone who is willing to listen to you all the time?"

Liu Yu remained silent, and asked back after a long time: "What do you think?" It’s all clear, so it’s boring!”) Hu Fan said: "You can attack cities and villages with millions of people, and you must conquer every battle. Of course Liu Yi has to convince you. However, Liu Yi dabbles in biographies, talks about literature and poetry, and thinks he is a hero, so There are so many celebrities and scholars who have gone to him. I am afraid that he is a person who does not want to be subordinated after all, so it is better to arrest him while meeting him." Liu Yu continued to show his face, waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Liu Yi arrived in Jiangling, readjusted the local officials, replaced them with his cronies, and recruited a group of Jiangzhou soldiers, about 10,000 people, who deliberately kept them in their hands and would not be repatriated.He also wrote to the court on the grounds that he was sick, requesting that his younger brother Liu Fan be transferred from Guangling as his deputy. Liu Yu once again pretended to agree and began to act secretly.When Liu Fan came to Beijing to take up his post, Liu Yu accused Liu Yi of conspiracy and rebellion for a long time in the name of an imperial edict.Liu Fan and Xie Hun hadn't said the word "reverse" before they were killed by Liu Yu first.

Liu Yu moved extremely quickly. He personally led the army from Jiankang, went up the river to attack Liu Yi.Wang Zhen'e, who joined the army, proposed to lead a hundred clippers as the vanguard.Liu Yu adopted his suggestion, and after the army arrived at Gushu, he took Wang Zhen'e as General Zhenwu, and General Kuai En of Longxiang commanded a hundred fast boats first.Before leaving, Liu Yu told Wang Zhen'e an opportunity: "If the enemy knows that I am coming, you might as well wait for the army to arrive. It will only be a few days. If you want to fight, you should disembark and go ashore. When you get there, you must carefully observe the situation. If you can fight, attack, otherwise, burn the ship, leave some speedboats by the water, and wait for my army to arrive. Also, we must comfort the people in many ways and publicize the purpose of the imperial edict: the crime is only for Liu Yi One person, the rest will be pardoned without questioning. If the enemy does not know the news of our advance and does not take precautions, they can also consider a surprise attack. Marching along the way, they will be said to be the ships of Liu Fan, the governor of Yanzhou."

In the name of Liu Fan, the vanguard fleet traveled day and night to Jingzhou in the west.Liu Yi and his subordinates believed it was true and did not make any resistance.In less than a month, Wang Zhen'e and others arrived at Yuzhangkou (now southeast of Jiangling, Hubei), only 20 miles away from Jiangling City.Seeing that Liu Yi was defenseless, Wang Zhen'e abandoned his ship and marched on foot. Kuai En's army was in front, and Wang Zhen'e's army followed closely behind.Each fast boat has one or two people, and set up flags and drums on the side of the boat, and tell the people stationed there to beat the drums and shout when the vanguard army is about to reach Jiangling City, showing that there is a large army behind; The small team secretly burned Liu Yi's ships parked in Jiangjin (southeast of Shashi, Hubei today), cutting off his retreat.

Still no passer-by had any doubts about this vanguard, and they all thought it was Liu Fan who had come to take up the post.Less than five or six miles away from the city, a dozen cavalry and dozens of infantry came head-on, and the leader was Liu Yi's general Zhu Xianzhi.Zhu Xianzhi was ordered by Liu Yi to go to Jiangjin to perform a mission. Seeing that Kuai En and Wang Zhen'e were dressed strangely, he asked, "Who is here?" Wang Zhen'e replied as usual, "Liu Yanzhou is here. !" Zhu Xianzhi asked again, "Where is Liu Yanzhou himself?" He replied, "I haven't come up from the back." Zhu Xianzhi was suspicious, and looked into the distance, and suddenly saw the direction of Jiangjin, where the fire was rising into the sky, and the drums were beating loudly, and then he understood It wasn't Liu Fan who came, so he hurried back to the city and reported to Liu Yi: "The big thing is not right. There is a large army outside. It seems that they came from the lower reaches. They are about to enter the city. The boats in Jiangjin were all set on fire."

Liu Yi was shocked when he heard the news, and urgently ordered the closure of all the city gates. Unfortunately, Kuai En and Wang Zhen'e led their troops to break in from the east gate of the outer city, and immediately divided their troops to attack the east and west gates of the inner city. Attacking the south gate, the two armies fought in a scuffle. From morning to afternoon, the thousands of defenders in the city basically walked and surrendered.Wang Zhen'e entered the inner city and set fire to the east and south gates of the outer city due to the wind. Wang Zhen sent someone to send the edict and pardon to Liu Yi, but Liu Yi didn't read it, burned it, and continued to fight with Sima Maoxiu's command soldiers with all his strength.The two sides fought hand-to-hand in the inner city. Many of these soldiers were former generals of the Beifu, and they were very familiar with each other. Wang Zhen'e asked his subordinates to do propaganda while fighting, and told Liu Yi's soldiers that Liu Yu himself was behind.This move really worked, and Wang Zhen'e's army quickly gained the upper hand.It was almost midnight at this time, Wang Zhen'e was worried that the soldiers would kill each other in the middle of the night, so he led his army to surround the inner city, opened the south gate, and lured Liu Yi to flee.Fearing an ambush at the south gate, Liu Yi led the remaining 300 people to fight a bloody road north, and finally escaped through the east gate of the outer city.He fled to a Buddhist monastery twenty miles away from the city, but the monks in the monastery did not dare to take him in. In desperation and desperation, he hanged himself to death. The Battle of Jiangling was surprisingly clever, and it can be regarded as a typical example of a siege battle.This battle eliminated Liu Yi's power and established Wang Zhen'e's position as the number one general under Liu Yu's subordinates.In fact, Liu Yu's large army did not arrive until 20 days after the vanguard troops of Wang Zhen'e and others captured Jiangling. Wang Zhen'e's role was to win the war in the fastest and most convenient way.Wang Zhen'e is none other than the grandson of former Qin Prime Minister Wang Meng. His ability to lead troops is not inferior to his grandfather's performance in the battle against Yan.