Chapter 26 5. Gai Wu raises troops

Liu Yikang was under house arrest in Yuzhang, Jiangzhou. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty intended to order his subordinates to execute him secretly. Fortunately, the brothers and sisters of this family also had a "parent" who was in charge - the eldest sister, Princess Kuaiji. This princess was Xu Kuizhi's wife who was killed in the battle against Sima Xiuzhi. Liu Yu wanted her son-in-law to excel on the battlefield, but she taught him to die without thinking about it.Princess Kuaiji became a widow, with her two young sons Xu Zhanzhi and Xu Chunzhi by her side.Liu Yu especially loved Xu Zhanzhi and took good care of him. He was granted the title of Marquis of the County when he was a few years old.Liu Yu advocates frugality. He specially left the old clothes "Nabu clothes" (should be patched clothes similar to patchwork clothes) that his wife sewed for him when he was poor and humble, to Princess Kuaiji, and told her: If your descendants are arrogant and extravagant, you can show them this dress and educate them well." Princess Kuaiji wrapped the clothes in a kit and silently recorded her father's teachings.

Liu Zhan's party was convicted, and Xu Zhanzhi was also implicated because he was favored by Liu Yikang, and he was about to be sentenced to death.Princess Kuaiji immediately entered the palace, and when she saw her younger brother, Emperor Wen of Song, she did not salute and cried bitterly.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty went in without knowing it, and was about to inquire. Princess Kuaiji suddenly took out the kit with Nabu clothes from her bosom, threw it on the ground, and said to Emperor Wen: "Your family was very poor. This is what my mother gave to your father. Made of Nabuyi. You are good, you can eat a full meal today, and you want to kill my son!" Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty dealt with Liu Yikang's case out of power struggle, "It is born from the same root, so why is it too urgent? ", Thinking of this, he also cried sadly.The reason why Xu Zhan was pardoned was that he was later appointed Prince Zhan Shi.

Liu Yikang was released, and Princess Kuaiji was worried about his personal safety, so she specially invited Emperor Wen of Song to her home for a banquet.During the banquet, the princess left the table and kowtowed several times to Emperor Wen, feeling overwhelmed with grief.Emperor Wen of Song didn't know what she wanted to do again, so he helped her up himself.The princess sobbed: "The car (Liu Yikang's nickname) will not be tolerated by His Majesty in the future, and my concubine is pleading for him, please spare his life." As she spoke, she burst into tears, and Emperor Wen of Song had to cry bitterly while comforting her that she didn't have to. concern.The princess didn't believe it, so Emperor Wen pointed to Jiang Shan who buried his father Liu Yu and made an oath: "Don't be suspicious, elder sister. If you break the oath, you will be sorry for the mausoleum of the father." Then he ordered Liu Yikang to give the leftover wine to Liu Yikang, and added: "Sister Kuaiji has a banquet to remember her younger brother, and the remaining wine will be given away today." To show my heart.

Throughout the life of the princess, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty did not touch Liu Yikang again. Unfortunately, this pungent, amiable and respectable princess passed away in the 21st year of Yuanjia (AD 444).Only one year later, Fan Ye (the author of "Book of the Later Han Dynasty") and several of Liu Yikang's confidantes planned a coup to welcome Liu Yikang again.Knowing the inside story, Xu Zhanzhi informed Emperor Wen of Song in advance, and Fan Ye and others were killed.Liu Yikang lost his official title and was deposed as a commoner, and his family moved to Ancheng County (now Runan, Henan).

In the same year, there were also riots in the Northern Dynasty, and a massive armed uprising broke out in the Guanzhong area that had been peaceful for nearly ten years.The leader of the army was a Lushuihu man named Gai Wu. Lushuihu is a large branch of the Hu people in Guanzhong, named after living in the Lushui River Basin for generations.According to research, this Lushui may be the Heishui in the south of Zhangye, Gansu today.This area has long been an ethnically mixed area, including the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Xiaoyue clans, among which the Huns are the main body. Therefore, scholars who study ethnic history often classify Lu Shuihu as the Xiongnu.Juqu Mengxun, who founded Beiliang, is the most typical Lushui Hu people. Among the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Liu Yuan and Helian Bobo belonged to the Huns. In fact, these three cannot be generalized: Liu Yuan is the descendant of the Southern Huns. According to Mr. Chen Yinke, Juqu Mengxun, who came from the Xiaoyue clan, can be considered as a mixed blood of Xiongnu and Qiang.Later, the concept of "Lu Shui Hu" was expanded, and any Hu people from Lu Shui could be called Lu Shui Hu.

After the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed Beiliang, military towns were set up in various parts of Guanzhong to rule the Hu.For example, Lirun Town (now north of Dali, Shaanxi) was established where the Qiang people lived together, Qiuchi Town (northwest of Chengxian County, Gansu Province) was established where the Di people lived together, and the town of Lushui was established where the Hu people lived together. Xingcheng Town (now southwest of Huangling, Shaanxi).The Hu people in the Xingcheng area have all become Lu Shuihu (this is a kind of ethnic identity on the cultural level. The so-called ethnic groups in the Northern Dynasties are often more cultural titles than blood. For example, the rioters Gai Wu, in terms of blood, should be Jiehu, but is still classified as Lushuihu clan).The status of the non-Xianbei Hu people was far lower than that of the Han people. They were not only forced to migrate, but also had to bear heavier taxes. The strong dissatisfaction of the Hu people finally turned into a force of resistance.

The sixth year of Taiping Zhenjun in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 445) was a year that made the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Wei Dynasty fearful.The year before, due to the failure of the northern attack on Rouran, Xue Yongzong and Xue An, the powerhouses in Hedong, launched an uprising based on Fenqu (now Linnan, Shanxi).The people of Xianbei were worried, and there was a rumor in Guanzhong that "Wu the one who destroyed Wei". Gai Wu took advantage of the opportunity of people spreading rumors and gathered people in Xingcheng to fight against Wei.When the rock was hit, thousands of waves were stirred up. Not only the Lushui Hu people responded one after another, but also the Di, Qiang, Tuge, Han and other ethnic groups rushed to join.Gai Wu soon had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and he sent envoys to the Song State in the Southern Dynasty to ask for surrender.

Tuoba He, the deputy general of Chang'an Town in the Northern Wei Dynasty, ignored Gai Wu and led an army to suppress it. As a result, almost the entire army was wiped out, and Tuoba He died in battle.Gai Wu's team continued to grow, shaking the Northern Wei court in Pingcheng.Tuoba Tao sent the cavalry of Gaoping Chile to Chang'an, and ordered General Shu Sunba to lead the soldiers of Bing, Qin, and Yong to station troops in Weibei to resist Gai Wu's southward movement.Gai Wu sent troops to attack Chang'an and fought a battle with Shusun Ba's fine cavalry. More than 30,000 people died in the battle and suffered the first setback.

Seeing that the attack on Chang'an was blocked, Gai Wu sent Bai Guangping, the commander-in-chief of another ministry, to march westward to attack Xinping (now Bin County, Shaanxi).As expected, there was a mixed crowd of Hu people in the west. Before Gai Wu's army arrived, Hu people from Anding (now north of Jingchuan, Gansu) and other places surged up.Gai Wu then divided his forces to plunder the area east of Linjin (now southeast of Dali, Shaanxi), and was directly smashed by the Northern Wei general Zhang on the bank of the Yellow River, and as many as 30,000 people drowned. (Although Gai Wu’s tribesmen are amazing and have a large number of people, they are basically Hu people who are at the bottom of the society and are deeply oppressed. Their fighting quality is very low. Gai Wu wants to rely on the anger of the people and crowd tactics and training After all, it is extremely difficult for the well-trained and powerful Northern Wei cavalry to contend.)

Xue Yongzong of Hedong was inspired when he heard that Gai Wu was raising troops in Guanzhong, and immediately sent someone to get in touch with him.Gai Wu was quite proud of the support of his friendly army, so he proclaimed himself the king of Tiantai in Xingcheng, set up all civil and military officials, and appointed Xue Yongzong as the governor of Qinzhou to jointly attack the Northern Wei Dynasty. Xue Yongzong's military operations in Hedong did not go well.He attacked Wenxi's area. There were no guards there, so he should have taken it easily. Unexpectedly, Wenxi's strong men organized their own armed forces to repel them.However, Xue An, a member of his clan, successfully captured Hongnong (now north of Lingbao, Henan).In order to cut off the contact between Gai and Xue, Tuoba Tao ordered Xue Ba to gather the clan people and build barriers along the Yellow River. Shangshu Yiba led 30,000 cavalry to attack Gaiwu. As for Bai Guangping who entered the Longyou area, Xiping Gongkou raised 10,000 cavalry to deal with it.

At this time, Gaiwu's control area had expanded to Jincheng (northwest of Lanzhou, Gansu), Tianshui, Lueyang (southwest of Zhuanglang, Gansu), east to Hedong, and south to Weishui.Gai Wu sent envoys to the Southern Dynasty again, appealing to the Song State to send troops to help.The strange thing is that Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty, who had always been very interested in the Northern Expedition, seemed to be unable to cheer up this time. He just symbolically sealed the military affairs of Wu Dudu in Guanzhong and Longyou, and the governor of Yongzhou, and ordered Yongzhou and Yongzhou on the Song side. Soldiers from Liangzhou were stationed on the border to support Gai Wu from a distance. Such a pitiful so-called reaction would probably be strongly despised by those who came to Gai Wu. So why is Song State so indifferent to the chaos in the north?I think, on the one hand, this may be because the internal power struggle in the Song Dynasty has just subsided, and the idea of ​​the Northern Expedition has already been planned, but it is still in the planning stage, so it is not appropriate to rush to send troops; It's Lu Shuihu, the two factions of barbarians are arguing, at best it's a dog-eat-dog civil strife, it's better to sit on the sidelines and watch.It's a pity, it's a pity that the Xianbei people don't have many opportunities to "fight the fire" everywhere in the territory. If they really want to restore the Central Plains, they must seize the fleeting opportunities. I, who was an opportunity for the Northern Expedition, always watched it slip away." Tuoba Tao personally led the army to Dongyongzhou (now Linfen, Shanxi), and the soldiers came to Xue Yongzong's castle.Tuoba Tao didn't know the details of the enemy army, so he asked Cui Hao who was with the army: "Can we attack today?" Cui Hao replied: "Xue Yongzong certainly didn't expect His Majesty to come in person, the army's morale is slack, now the north wind is fast (Northern Wei army attacked Xue Yongzong from north to south), we should attack quickly, and they will be defeated. If we wait until tomorrow, I'm afraid Seeing the strength of the army, they ran away overnight." Tuoba Tao adopted Cui Hao's strategy, marched forward, and quickly surrounded the castle. Xue Yongzong's entire army was defeated and had nowhere to escape. He and his family threw themselves into Fenshui and died.Xue An, who was guarding Hongnong, could not support himself, and was forced to abandon the city and go south to Song State. The Wei army wiped out the forces of the Hedong rebels, and their morale was greatly boosted.Tuoba Tao immediately pointed to the west, and the army crossed the Yellow River and went straight to Guanzhong.An unprecedented religious disaster is about to come.