Chapter 31 10. The failure of Wang Xuanmo

In fact, regardless of whether there was this provocative letter from Tuoba Tao, Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty planned to launch a large-scale Northern Expedition.The ministers around him naturally did what he liked, Xu Zhanzhi (he realized the cruelty of political struggle after Liu Yikang's downfall, and since then he followed the emperor's line, and Song Wendi gradually favored him), Jiang Zhan and Wang Xuanmo. It is to keep advocating the theory of the victory of the Northern Expedition.The most active person here is Wang Xuanmo, the prefect of Pengcheng, who often talked about the world, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign gods in front of Emperor Wen of Song. Langjuxu Mountain is located in the Kent Mountain in northern Mongolia today. Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty and sealed the mountain as a sacrifice to heaven.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty lived in the deep palace for a long time, and after listening to Wang Xuanmo's bragging, he wanted to pursue the martial arts of a strong man, and he really didn't know what his last name was.Xin Qiji's words "Yuan Jia Caocao, Feng Lang Ju Xu" refers to this allusion.Compared with the Northern Expedition of the power minister Han Yuzhou, the Northern Expedition during the Yuanjia period can be said to be launched by a group of fools from top to bottom, leaving only a laughing stock for future generations.

Just look at the people around Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty. Seeing that the emperor had the intention of conferring Zen, Yushi Zhongcheng Yuan Shu immediately said: "Your Majesty is wise and mighty, swept Hebei with a large army, and then conferred Zen on Mount Tai. I would like to submit a book of conferring Zen to you." , to celebrate this thousand-year union." It's a bit like "for thousands of generations, to unify the rivers and lakes". Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty fulfilled Mingjun's dream, so he called a group of ministers in the autumn of the twenty-seventh year of Yuanjia (AD 450) and proposed a large-scale Northern Expedition, so that everyone could unify their opinions as soon as possible.Considering the actual situation, the ministers raised many objections.General Liu Kangzu of the Left Army thought that it was too late, so it was better to wait until next year before mobilizing troops.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty actually said: "The tyranny of Wei in the north, and the rise and fall of rebels everywhere, if we wait for another year, wouldn't it make those righteous men who are loyal to the court feel cold, no!"

Prince Infantry Colonel Shen Qingzhi was once recommended by Tan Daoji, and he was one of the few people in the Liu Song Kingdom who knew soldiers.The barbarians in the Song Dynasty rebelled, and he led the army to suppress the rebellion and made many military exploits.Shen Qingzhi remonstrated with Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, saying: "Our army is dominated by infantry, and Wei's army is dominated by cavalry. It is difficult to match; Tan Daoji used troops twice to fail, and Yanzhi failed in the Northern Expedition. Today's Wang Xuanmo and others are probably not as good as that. The two generals, the strength of our army is not as strong as before, I am afraid that it will be unfavorable to start the army and be humiliated instead!"

Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty said disapprovingly: "The state of Wei stealing the Henan area of ​​our country is no different from a clown. Our army has not won battles in the past. Bad luck. The only thing Wei Jun relied on was horses. This summer, the river was full of water. Our army only needs to sail northward by boat, and it is easy to take down the two places, the sledge and the slide. After taking these two places, we will have food and grass. , and then take Hulao and Luoyang, it will not be a problem. When winter comes, our city is also repaired, and Wei Jun’s cavalry dares to cross the river, no matter how hard he comes back.”

Shen Qingzhi still felt it was inappropriate and insisted on opposing it.Emperor Wen of Song asked Xu Zhanzhi, Jiang Zhan and Shen Qing to debate next to him.Although Shen Qingzhi was good at fighting, he was not good at eloquence, and he couldn't explain the principles of these people. At the end, he said angrily: "Governing the country is like running a family. You should ask the peasants about plowing the fields, and your maidservant about weaving. Your Majesty is discussing the Northern Expedition today." How can it be done well if you discuss it with this group of little white faces and nerds!" Song Wendi laughed and ignored him.

There were also a few other people who objected, such as Prince Liu Shao and General Xiao Sihua, the guarding general. Emperor Wen of Song ignored all objections and ordered the Song army from all over the country to be ready to go. Tuoba Tao heard that Liu Song was coming to crusade, so he wrote another letter and sent some horses, saying: "The two families have been reconciled for a long time, and they are also considered neighbors, but you are greedy and seduce the people on the border of our country. Damn it. Since the beginning of Pangu, you and I have been the only ones competing for the world. Why do you care about it? (This is a big truth) Recently I heard that you are coming. If you can go to my Zhongshan or Sangqianchuan, then you can follow you Come on, I won't welcome you when you come, and I won't send you off if you leave. If you are tired of the court life over there, you can come to live in my Pingcheng, and I will live in your Yangzhou. Let's change. You People who are almost fifty years old don’t stay at home. When you go out, you are still not like a three-year-old child. How can you compare with us Xianbei who lived on horseback since childhood. I don’t have anything to give you, just Send twelve hunting horses, plus some medicinal materials. You don’t have enough horsepower to come to me, you can ride the horse I gave you, if you are not acclimatized, you can take my medicine.”

Like the previous letter, this one is purely superfluous.After receiving the letter, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty immediately issued an edict, the Northern Expedition! Although Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty proclaimed a great momentum in his imperial edict, which felt like a million-strong army, there were only five armies that actually launched the Northern Expedition: the first arm was the main naval force, commanded by Qing and Ji prefect Xiao Bin, Wang Xuanmo and Shen Qingzhi and Shen Tan, one officer and two officers, were the vanguards, leading 10,000 boats westward along the Yellow River. The 100,000 infantry cavalry of Liang Tan, who participated in the army, went straight to Xuchang and Luoyang; the third route was led by Xu, the governor of Yan Erzhou, and the Wuling King Liu Jun commanded the soldiers of Xu, Yan and other states; the fourth route was led by the governor of Yuzhou and Nanping King Liu Shuo led Jing, Soldiers from Henan and other prefectures advanced side by side from the east and west wings; the fifth route was in the west, and the governor of Yongzhou followed Wang Liudan to lead the soldiers to join the army Liu Yuanjing, Zhenwei General Yin Xianzu, Fenwu General Lu Fangping, Jianwu General Xue Andu, Lueyang prefect Pang Faqi and others will attack Hongnong and Tongguan.In addition, Liu Yigong, the king of Jiangxia, sat in Pengcheng to save the troops.Except for Song Wendi's cronies, all the commanders-in-chief of Song State were his sons (third son Liu Jun, fourth son Liu Shuo, sixth son Liu Dan) or younger brothers (Liu Yigong).It can be seen that at this time the military power of the Song State was firmly in the hands of the Liu clan. This was the situation that Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty hoped to see, but it also planted a time bomb for the potential civil strife behind him.

The emperor's mobilization order exposed the weakness of Song's lack of preparation.First of all, there is insufficient supply, there is no way, and a proposal is made, from the princes, concubines, and down to the rich people, donate gold, silk, and sundries for military use; It’s made of paper), okay, mobilize the six prefectures of Qing, Ji, Xu, Henan, Yan, and Nanyan (Southern Yanzhou is south of Xuzhou, today’s northern Jiangsu area), and each household will draw one for three, five Ding draws two, once the military order arrives, all the clothes will be assembled in Guangling or Xuyi within ten days to stand by. In addition, strong men with superb martial arts skills will be recruited and rewarded; And monks and nuns (this trick is ruthless, Buddhist temples in the Southern Dynasties were quite prosperous, and there were many properties), they all borrowed a quarter of the property, and returned it after the battle.Emperor Wen of Song yelled for a long time to "seal the wolf and live in Xu", but he didn't do his logistics work well, and he didn't get his military reserve up after more than 20 years of rule. From this point, he has faintly shown his defeat.

The main force on the East Road marched smoothly. The Northern Wei's Fufen and Le'an defenders left without a fight. The Song army easily took down the first important town in the south of the Yellow River.Xiao Bin made a wrong decision, leaving the experienced Shen Qingzhi to guard Fufen, but let the exaggerated Wang Xuanmo continue westward to attack the slippery platform. Wang Xuanmo has a large number of people and excellent weapons, so it shouldn't be difficult to besiege the sliding platform.But he was greedy by nature. At the beginning, there were many houses in the city of Skateboard that were huts. Someone suggested shooting rockets into the city, but he said: "Those are my property, how can I burn them!" It is ridiculous to calculate the value of the spoils.Later, people in the city demolished thatched huts and replaced them with earthen kilns.When the nearby residents heard about the Southern and Northern Expeditions, they enthusiastically supported them, sent food and troops, and came to join them. Wang Xuanmo did not treat them well, and instead of appointing militia leaders, he organized them into his various ministries, and then distributed them to every household. For a piece of cloth, 800 large pears (estimated to be a fruit that is abundant in the local area) are required to be paid.A piece of cloth for 800 big pears is almost like grabbing food, and he has lost the hearts of the people in the Central Plains.

The reinforcements from the Northern Wei Dynasty didn't come quickly. What Tuoba Tao meant was to wait for it first, and if it didn't work, he would hide first, and it wouldn't be too late to send troops in winter.Even so, Wang Xuanmo still couldn't get down the slide for a few months. It's not the same thing to brag about fighting, and the Song army's morale is already unstable. In this way, it was winter in a blink of an eye. Tuoba Tao sent his troops to the south, and Wang Xuanmo's forward, Yuan Huzhi, found out about the military situation in the southwest of the sliding platform. He quickly sent a book to Wang Xuanmo, advising him to attack the sliding platform quickly, and he must attack the sliding platform as a defense at all costs. stronghold.This idiot Wang Xuanmo didn't listen at all, and committed suicide.

The speed of Tuoba Tao's cavalry was so fast that they crossed the Yellow River in a blink of an eye. The sound of war drums shook the world. Wang Xuanmo had never seen such a large-scale cavalry regiment. The rush was chaotic, with tens of thousands of casualties, and mountains of military supplies and weapons were discarded. Yuan Huzhi performed much better than Wang Xuanmo. Wei Jun connected the warships left by Wang Xuanmo with iron chains to block the river, hoping to block the return of Yuan Huzhi in the middle reaches.When Yuanhu saw this, he ordered the boats to take the fast-flowing river down the river, and asked the soldiers to prepare long axes, and cut off the iron locks when they encountered them.Wei Jun's serial plan failed, and Yuanmo returned with an excellent record of losing only one ship. The Song army used inhuman beings, so that the front line lost its troops. Xiao Bin, the commander of the East Road, was so angry that he saw Wang Xuanmo who had fled back from the defeat and wanted to kill him to show his military prestige. How could Wang Xuanmo be able to resist the mighty power of the world and the command of millions of troops? Killing generals before the battle will only destroy one's own morale, and it is not a good way to increase the prestige of others." Xiao Bin then gave up. (It stands to reason that Shen Qingzhi had always opposed the Northern Expedition, and killing Wang Xuanmo this time was a good way to vent his anger. Unexpectedly, Wang Xuanmo, who did not take Shen Qingzhi's words seriously, would have to rely on his words to save his life. Shen Qingzhi did not report private interests with the public, which can be called a battlefield On the real veteran.) When he went to the doctor in a hurry, Xiao Bin wanted to stick to the 碻磝, and it was Shen Qingzhi who said: "Qingzhou and Jizhou are weak. If they sit and defend isolated cities, they will not be able to defend the east of Qingshui when most of the enemy troops attack. The 碻磝 will only It's Zhu Xiuzhi's runner-up." Xiao Bin was hesitant, just as Emperor Song Wen's imperial edict arrived, forbidding Xiao Bin to retreat. (Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was also a nerd who had read military books but didn't understand the art of war. He should know the truth that "generals are not allowed to accept military orders abroad", but he always liked to sit in the palace and give orders to troops thousands of miles away. In ancient times, there was no MSN, Email, you can communicate directly. When your edict arrives on the battlefield, the situation will have changed a long time ago. How can it be effective? It is purely using authority to add chaos.) Xiao Bin hurriedly summoned the generals to discuss the countermeasures to stay.Shen Qingzhi said to him: "The general can make arbitrary decisions on matters on the battlefield. The edict was sent from such a far away place, and he doesn't understand the situation here at all. At present, there is even Fan Zeng who can't use it (referring to Xiao Bin and others who don't listen to him), What's the use of empty talk?" Xiao Bin and others have always regarded Shen Qingzhi as a warrior, but they didn't expect him to know Fan Zeng's allusions, so they couldn't help laughing and said: "Mr. It's not as good as the knowledge that the subordinate officials have learned through their ears and eyes!" Everyone was speechless. In the end, Xiao Bin decided to make a compromise. He neither violated the holy will, nor combined with the reality that the enemy is strong and we are weak. Licheng, the governing office of the two states of Hebei.As a result, the East Road battlefield, which Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty placed high hopes on, turned from offense to defense. (If he knew that Wang Xuanmo had declined like this on the battlefield, would he still think about Feng Chan all day long?)