Chapter 33 Twelve, lose-lose

Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was worried about the safety of Pengcheng, so he asked General Zang Zhi of the Fuguo to lead 10,000 troops to reinforce it.As soon as Zang Zhi's army arrived in Xuyi, Huainan, they heard that Tuoba Tao had crossed the Huai River.The Song army camped hastily to meet the battle, but was defeated by the cavalry of Tuoba Tan, king of Yan in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Zang Zhi led 700 remnants of the defeated general, abandoned his luggage, and fled to Xuyi. Shen Pu, the prefect of Xuyi, was the youngest son of Liu Yu's general Shen Linzi. This man was very far-sighted.He had not been in charge of Xuyi for a long time. When Wang Xuanmo made his northern expedition to Henan, Shen Pu thought that if something happened to the Song army, the Jianghuai area would bear the brunt, so he had to take it seriously.So he ordered the construction of castles, dredging the city and rivers, and accumulating food, grass and property for wartime use. At that time, both the court and his staff thought that he had done too much.When the army of the Wei army came and the other city guards abandoned the city and fled, everyone was dumbfounded and realized his brilliance.

Someone also persuaded Shen Pu to return to Jiankang to save his life, Shen Pu replied: "If the Hulu army doesn't look down on this small city, we have nothing to fear; if they dare to attack hard, they will be captured by our army. May I ask you all, have you ever seen a battle where hundreds of thousands of people gathered together without losing? Wang Xun was defeated in Kunyang and Zhuge Ke was defeated in Hefei, and those are the proofs!" Shen Pu recruited two thousand elite soldiers, He began to actively organize fortifications. Zang Zhi fled to Xuyi. The generals believed that Zang Zhi's army could not be accommodated in the city, and even if he could defend the city, he would not get credit for it.Shen Pu shook his head and sighed: "The Hulu will definitely not be able to attack Xuyi, I dare to guarantee you. If you want to retreat now, it may be too late; and the cruelty of the Hulu is unprecedented in ancient and modern times. They slaughtered people everywhere, Everyone can see clearly that the luckiest people can only be brought back to the Northern Dynasties as slaves. Zang Zhi's army is also afraid of these things. As the saying goes, "We are in the same boat, Hu (referring to the north) and Yue (the guide) are of the same mind." ’, if we have more people, the enemy will retreat faster, and if we have fewer people, the retreat will be slower. How can we give the enemy a chance to breathe in order to monopolize the credit?”

Shen Pu made a final decision, opened the gates of the city, and accepted Zang Zhi's army.Zang Zhi's soldiers had been beaten so hard by the Wei army that they couldn't hold their heads up. Suddenly seeing Xuyi's strong defenses and sufficient supplies, it was as if they were in heaven, and they couldn't help shouting long live.Zang Zhi was also very happy, and ordered to guard Xuyi together with Shen Pu. Tuoba Tao's army followed and came to the city.Hearing that there was food and grass in Xuyi City, Wei Jun couldn't wait to take this piece of fat.It turned out that the main purpose of the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty was to drive away the Song army in Henan. They did not carry much food, and all they relied on for the southward battle were looting along the way.The strategy of the Song State is also considered clever, fortified the wall and cleared the country early, and the Wei army could not get anything to eat.However, Xuyi is more difficult to attack than Pengcheng. Not only is the defense tight, but also has sufficient reserves and strong morale.The Wei army attacked but failed, so Tuoba Tao left general Han Yuanxing and thousands of soldiers to camp outside the city to face off, and the rest of the army continued to march south.

The Wei army arrived at Guabu Ferry on the north bank of the Yangtze River without stopping. At that time, the soldiers had little food and the horses lacked water.Unwilling to show weakness, Tuoba Tao ordered the soldiers to destroy houses, cut down reeds, fabricate small rafts, and declared that he would dominate the Yangtze River. (Joke, didn’t even bring a single boat, can’t you just rely on a few small rafts to dominate the Yangtze River? In fact, Tuoba Tao also knew at this time that the Wei army had reached the limit of the subjective and objective, and it would be a matter of time before they returned to the north, but I can’t come here in vain, anyway, I have to scare the monarchs and officials of the Southern Dynasty to death, right?)

An atmosphere of fear spread in Jiankang City on the south bank, and the common people stood with their burdens on their shoulders, ready to flee at any time.The court of the Song Dynasty issued a martial law order for the whole city, and at the same time conscripted all the children below the princes in Danyang to serve in the army, and set up a defense line along the river, from Caishiji to Jiyang, stretching six to seven hundred miles.Prince Liu Shao left the town of Stone City to command the water army.Xu Zhanzhi guarded Cangcheng, and Jiang Zhan also served as the leader and deployed all military orders. (It’s very interesting, these two shouted happily before the battle, now let you also go to the front line to experience the horror of war in person!)

In order to appease the generals in charge of the city defense, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty personally boarded the stone city to labor.Looking at the invisible formation of Wei Jun on the opposite bank, he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy in his heart. He didn't expect that he had worked so hard for more than 20 years to get such a result.He turned his head and said to Jiang Zhan: "When the Northern Expedition was discussed, there were not many people who really agreed with it; now it's a waste of people and money, which makes people feel ashamed. It's all my fault!"

For some reason, the scene of his father Liu Yu's sword pointing to the north and his invincible victory suddenly appeared in his mind. The contrast with the desolate river scene in front of him was very sad.With a long sigh, he said: "If Tan Daoji is alive, how can he teach Hulu's army horses to come to this place!" Jiang Zhan and other ministers next to him bowed their heads in shame, just obediently. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty ordered that whoever can get the head of Tuoba Tao or the princes around him can be promoted to rank and rewarded with gold and silver treasures.He also found someone to put poisoned wine in the uninhabited villages in Jiangbei, trying to poison the soldiers of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but it was unsuccessful.

Tuoba Tao set up a tent on Guabu Mountain and watched Jiangnan as a tiger.Knowing that there was not much time to stay here, he sent people to send camels and famous horses to the Song State in exchange for rare fruits from the south, and proposed a reconciliation, hoping that Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty would marry his daughter to his grandson, while he would give the The daughter married Liu Jun, the king of Wuling (this generation is really messy, I don't know if Tuoba Tao has used his brain to calculate). Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty summoned the crown prince to discuss with the ministers a plan for peace. Most of them agreed, but Jiang Zhan objected, saying: "Rong and Di don't understand family affection, so it's no good to agree to them."

Liu Shao had long been displeased with Jiang Zhan, and retorted sharply: "Now the three princes (referring to Liu Shuo who guards Shouyang and Liu Yigong and Liu Jun who guard Pengcheng) are in danger, how dare you object?" Emperor Wen of Song said: "The failure of the Northern Expedition and the fall of several prefectures is a great shame and humiliation. I think I can kill Jiang Zhan and Xu Zhanzhi, these two bastards, to thank the world!" Emperor Wen of Song waved his hand and said, "The Northern Expedition is my idea. Jiang Zhan and Xu Zhanzhi just didn't object. There is no need to discuss the matter of marriage!" (Emperor Wen of Song was quite kind in handling this matter. The idea of ​​the Northern Expedition was fundamentally due to his great achievements and serious optimism in judging the situation. Jiang Zhan and Xu Zhanzhi were at most just pandering to sycophants, and they were not worth and unnecessary to kill. But Liu Shao had other ideas. Intention, he wanted to establish his prestige by killing dissidents among the courtiers, so that he would be able to control the situation steadily after he ascended the throne in the future. Emperor Song Wen blocked Jiang and Xu at this juncture, but it made Liu Shao hate them even more, and it also aroused his dissatisfaction with Jiang and Xu. Father’s strong dissatisfaction. History books say that Liu Shao started to have the desire to kill his father because of this incident, which is not completely unreasonable.)

Tuoba Tao in Jiangbei was very annoyed when he failed to propose a marriage, but he did not have enough ships to cross the river to fight, not to mention that the Wei army was short of supplies and morale was low.He had no choice but to reward the officials on Guabu Mountain, and then lighted torches along the river to frighten the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty. His behavior was quite similar to Shi Hu, the king of Zhao who also tried to spy on the river more than a hundred years ago.Prince Zuowei led Yin Hong, who knew the temperament of the northerners, asserted: "The barbarians are behaving like this, and they will soon retreat."

The next day, the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty captured a group of residents there, then set fire to the houses and left. The Wei army finally retreated, and Emperor Wen of Song breathed a sigh of relief, but the self-confidence of the people of the Southern Dynasties fell to the lowest point in decades.He was worried that those who supported Liu Yikang would take the opportunity to make trouble again, so he sent someone to secretly execute Liu Yikang who was under house arrest.After all, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty violated the oath he made to Princess Kuaiji, and died unexpectedly in the future, which is probably a kind of belated retribution. Even if he hit the Yangtze River, he was still helpless, and Tuoba Tao was full of resentment and had nowhere to vent.When the returning army passed through Xuyi, Han Yuanxing's army was still confronting Zang Zhi's defenders outside the city.Tuoba Tao shouted to Zang Zhi, asking Song Jun to quickly offer several altars of fine wine, otherwise he would kill every single one in Xuyi City. Zang Zhi remained silent, and asked the guards on the top of the city to put down a few wine jars and send them to Wei Jun.Tuobatao ordered people to open it to take a look, and it turned out that there were piles of excrement and urine inside.Tuoba Tao was so angry that his hair stood on end, he ordered to capture Xuyi City at all costs! Wei Jun built a long wall around the city, then filled the moat of Xuyi with rocks, and cut off all external passages in the city.Tuoba Tao personally wrote a letter to Zang Zhi, and attached a sword as a gift, domineering: "The siege troops I sent are not from our Xianbei: the northeast of the city is Dingling and the Huns, and the south of the city is Di People and Qiang people. If the Dingling people die in battle, the banditry in Jizhou will be reduced; if the Huns are dead, the banditry in Bingzhou will be reduced; as for the death of the Di and Qiang people, there will be no bandits in Guanzhong. If you can kill them, it will be beneficial to our country." Zang Zhi replied with reasonable and forceful words: "I have read the letter, and I fully understand your treachery. Don't you just rely on your four legs to repeatedly invade our country's borders? The frontline troops of our country have retreated one after another. Do you know the secret? The nursery rhyme has already Said: "The captive horse drinks the river water, and the Buddha raccoon dies in the year of Mao", but our army lured you to go deep before the year of Mao. Your death is also approaching. This is God's will, no one can change it. I was ordered to go to Mobei to destroy you, but you are better off, I sent you to my door, how can I let you go back alive? You still beg God to bless you, Let you die among the rebellious army. If you are unfortunately caught by our army, you will have to be chained to the back of a donkey and dragged to Jiankang City to be beheaded. If the heaven and the earth do not manifest, I will be defeated by you. You can't even repay my kindness to me. Hey, with this talent, how can you compare with Fu Jian? Let's attack the city obediently, and don't run away right away! If there is not enough food, we can open It was a gift from Cang. By the way, I have received the sword you sent, do you want me to slash you with the sword?" (I have to say that Liu Song's ministers are still very good if they only fight with words and swords. .) Zang Zhi forwarded Tuoba Tao's letter to the soldiers of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and said: "Everyone, please see that in the letter that Foli wrote to me, he actually wanted to treat you like this. Why do you want to kill yourself?" Attached is the reward order of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty: "Behead the head of the Buddha and the raccoon, seal ten thousand households, and give ten thousand pieces of cloth and silk." Tuoba Tao was so angry that he ordered a hook cart to attack the city tower. The guards in the city came prepared, and tied the hook cart with a thick rope, telling it to come and go.Wei Jun switched to ramming the city with a ram, but the city wall was so thick that only a little bit of soil was damaged by a collision.The last move was fighting. Wei soldiers climbed up the tower one by one, and started a hand-to-hand fight with the Song army guards. There were still dead bodies piled up, but there was still no progress.It was rumored in the army that the Song army would enter the Huaihe River by sea and copy the rear route of the Wei army; the northerners in the Wei army city were not adapted to the local climate and soil, and more and more people fell ill.In desperation, Tuoba Tao, who was ashamed, had to withdraw his troops. Because of his slow movement on the road, he killed the captured people.The Song army guarding Xuyi did not dare to pursue it because of its small number of soldiers. Liu Yigong in Pengcheng was afraid of the Wei army and did not dare to act rashly. The third Henan war between Wei and Song ended in a loss for both sides. In order to vent their anger, the Wei army retreated through the six states in the north of the Song Dynasty. They burned houses when they encountered them, and chopped down anyone they saw.The land they passed was reduced to ashes, and the Huainan area was almost turned into no man's land.Although spring is here, the swallows can only hide in the woods to build their nests, and they can no longer find a house where they can settle down.The prosperous situation of the "Yuanjia Reign" in the south is gone forever, and because of the loss of a large number of soldiers and horses in the north, it has been unable to launch a large-scale war for many years. This war, which took place at the end of the reign of the two monarchs of the North and the South, began with messy planning and ended in messy tragedy.Neither of the two sides has the strength to eat the other side and fight such a destructive battle.As a result of the war, Liu Song declined, while the Northern Wei Dynasty gradually changed its national policy.