Chapter 41 20. Lost in Huaibei

The Liu Zixun rebellion that ensued after Song Ming Emperor Liu Xie came to the throne, on the surface, it was a dispute between uncles and nephews.That is to say, after Liu Ziye was killed, the officials of Liu Song Dynasty were divided into two opposing forces around the issue of whether the princes of Emperor Xiaowu's line should be the emperor or the princes of Emperor Wen's line should be the throne.Those who support the former believe that although Liu Ziye has been abolished, Liu Jun's imperial lineage is still legal, and his son should be supported; while those who support the latter believe that Liu Ziye's licentiousness is rooted in Liu Jun, who is also licentious. , the so-called "filial piety will cause more disasters" (Yuan Rongzu's language), supporting Liu Yu can stabilize the situation.This seemingly dispute between the imperial lineage and the orthodox lineage actually reflects the loss of morality and values ​​​​in the Liu Song Dynasty after the death of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty.

As mentioned earlier, Liu Zixun's Chief Shi Deng Wan identified him as the "third" prince, thinking that he would accomplish great things, and was unwilling to accept Liu Zixun's title of chariot general conferred by the court.In the name of Liu Zixun, he preached Jiankang, accused Liu Yu of stealing the throne, and joined forces with all parties to crusade. In the first month of the second year of Taishi (AD 466), Deng Wan and others pretended to be the Empress Dowager (that is, Empress Dowager Lu, Liu Jun's mother) and issued a secret edict, supporting Liu Zixun to proclaim himself emperor in Xunyang and changing Yuan Yijia.

The side supporting Liu Zixun is powerful and powerful.Needless to mention the younger brothers Liu Zisui, King of Anlu, Liu Zifang, King of Xunyang, and Liu Zixu, King of Linhai, the generals of various towns, such as Xue Andu, governor of Xuzhou, Cui Daogu, governor of Jizhou, and Shen Wenxiu, governor of Qingzhou, all raised their troops to respond.Then, Yizhou, Xiangzhou, Guangzhou, Liangzhou and other places also surrendered to Liu Zixun, and the troops assembled towards Xunyang.The only territory that the imperial court can maintain is Danyang, Huainan and other counties around Jiankang.

Liu Yu is stronger than his elder brother Liu Jun, at least he behaved calmly in times of crisis.Cai Xingzong said to him: "Nowadays, the whole world is rebelling together, and people have different aspirations. We should promote the policy of 'no crime is irrelevant' to the relatives of the rebels who stayed in the capital, and comfort people, so that we will be able to defeat the enemy." Liu Yu agreed. The officers and soldiers whose relatives have already attached themselves to Liu Zixun will not be charged, and their duties will remain as usual.He ordered martial law inside and outside, and appointed Liu Xiuren, the king of Situ Jian'an, as the commander-in-chief to conquer the military forces, and Xuanmo, the general of chariots and governor of Jiangzhou, as his deputy, and marched into Nanzhou (now Dangtu, Anhui); The general of the army, the commander-in-chief of the forward troops, took Shen Qingzhi's nephew Shen Youzhi as the prefect of Xunyang, and the forward army stationed at Hujian (now southwest of Wuhu, Anhui).

When the preparations were complete, Liu Yu began to send troops to wipe out the peripheral forces, and ordered Baling King Liu Xiuruo to supervise Jianwei General Shen Huaiming, Shangshu Zhang Yong, Fuguo General Xiao Daocheng and other troops to seek Kuaiji County Minister Kong Ke who was attached to Liu Zixun. The rebels in the east were not easy to deal with. Liu Xiuruo's army almost lost their fighting spirit when they encountered the blizzard that hadn't happened in decades.Liu Xiuruo strictly ordered those who would retreat to beheaded, and only then did he calm down the morale of the army a little.

Liu Yu knew that if he didn't get rid of the worries in the Kuaiji area in the east, it would be difficult to let go and fight Liu Zixun in Xunyang in the southwest.Wu Xi, the censor in the palace, was originally from Wu Xing (now Huzhou, Zhejiang). He had followed Shen Qingzhi for many years and had made considerable military exploits.Liu Yu was overjoyed and appointed him as General Jianwu, forming a team of elite soldiers who had experienced many military brigades, equipped with warriors from the Habayashi Army, and marched eastward. Sure enough, the elite soldiers from the previous dynasty are still easy to use.Wu Xi made great strides all the way, and quickly conquered Yixing (now Yixing, Jiangsu), Wuxing, Qiantang, Xiling (now Xiaoshanxi, Zhejiang), and came straight to Kuaiji.The city of Kuaiji was in chaos, Wang Yan, magistrate of Shangyu County, took the opportunity to attack Kuaiji, Kong Qi was defeated and killed, and Liu Zifang, king of Xunyang, was sent to Jiankang.In less than a month, Wu Xi put down the rebellion in Kuaiji and reversed the decline of the imperial army.

Liu Zixun's side claims to have an army of hundreds of thousands, but they don't know how to seize the opportunity.As the main member of the uprising, Deng Wan was actually just a mediocre person who was afraid of chaos and wanted to make a fortune for the country.After he mastered the military and political power, he and his son worked together in Xunyang to sell officials and nobles. They feasted and danced day and night, and had fun.If the upper beam is not regular, the lower beam will be crooked. How can the army be expected to fight well and win battles? Deng Wan saw that the Kuaiji army on the East Road was wiped out so quickly by the court, so he quickly dispatched Sun Chongzhi, the prefect of Badong and Jianping, to lead 10,000 soldiers to guard Zheqi (now northwest of Fanchang, Anhui).Sun Chongzhi suggested to use the large army and water route to take Jiankang directly.So Liu Zixun took Sun Chongzhi as the general of the left guard, and Tao Liang, who joined the army as the general of the right guard, commanded 20,000 soldiers from the five prefectures of Ying, Jing, Xiang, Liang, and Yong, and marched downstream together.However, this Tao Liang was a man without talent and strategy. When he saw Liu Xiuren, Yin Xiaozu, and Shen Youzhi's army dispatched, he did not dare to move forward. He only stationed his army in Quezhou on the Yangtze River (between Tongling and Fanchang in present-day Anhui Province) ).

Yin Xiaozu led his army to Zheqi and met Tao Liang's army.Yin Xiaozu was very brave in battle. He took the lead every time he went into battle, regardless of his life, and he also liked to play his own banner. As a result, he died in the encounter battle, and his army surrendered to the rebels.The imperial army was defeated for a while. Yin Xiaozu didn't trust his soldiers enough during his lifetime, and many people were unwilling to follow him to their death, which was also a small reason for his death; Shen Youzhi was on the contrary, he knew how to be considerate of the military situation, and the relationship between his superiors and his subordinates was very good.After Yin Xiaozu's death, he led the crowd to elect Ningshuo General Jiang Fangxing, who was higher in rank than him, as the commander, which stabilized the morale of the army at the right time.

Jiang Fangxing led the generals to attack, and defeated Tao Liang's army in a battle with Liu Xiuren's army. The two fortresses built by Sun Chongzhi nearby were also attacked.Tao Liang urgently summoned Sun Chongzhi to retreat from Quewei (in today's Lujiang, Anhui), leaving Longxiang General Xue Changbao to guard Zheqi, while he himself led the army and other battalions to Baonong Lake (now in the west of Fanchang, Anhui).Liu Zixun's army was completely on the defensive. Deng Wan did not give up easily. He dispatched Liu Hu, governor of Yuzhou, with 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to reinforce them. A total of more than 100,000 troops were stationed at Quewei.

Liu Xiuren's army also has 100,000 people.He was very good to the soldiers, comforted his subordinates, hanged him to ask the wounded, and kept the morale of the imperial army high.When Shen Youzhi led the army to attack Zheqi, everyone fought bloody battles, not only defeated the grain transport army sent by Liu Hu, but also took advantage of the momentum to break through the city of Zheqi. However, the number of rebels in Quewei was still quite large at this time.Seeing that the two armies had been confronting each other for a long time without any progress, Deng Wan ordered Shangshu Zuo Servant to shoot Yuan Ke to lead the conquest army. Magpie tail reinforcements.

Yuan Xi served as a servant in Liu Jun's court, so he didn't know how to fight.When he came to the army, he didn't wear military uniform, didn't talk about the war, and didn't do ideological work for the soldiers. The topics he talked about were all poetry, prose and other irrelevant things.Liu Hu and others borrowed military funds from Yuan Xie in Xiangyang, and he said: "I still have two houses in my family that have not been built, and I need funds!" Another guy who wanted to make money for the country. He was disappointed.Yuan Ji heard the rumor that "Jiankang rice is expensive, fighting to hundreds", and thought that there is no need to use troops, and the imperial army will collapse without fighting, and just stay where they are and consume military rations. The imperial army quickly took action. Liu Xiuren followed the suggestion of General Longxiang Zhang Xingshi and sent him to select 7,000 soldiers and 200 speedboats to find opportunities to occupy the upper reaches of the main force of the rebel army. Zhang Xingshi's fleet was not aggressive, he led all the boats to go upstream for a short distance every day, and when Liu Hu was about to send troops, he immediately retreated, and repeated for many days.Liu Hu felt ridiculous, and said: "I dare not go around and go straight to the capital. What is Zhang Xingshi, who wants to go up to me easily?" He no longer took serious precautions. Late one night, at the fourth watch, a northeasterly wind blew on the river. Zhang Xingshi suddenly ordered the sails to be raised, and the boat rushed upstream, passing Quewei quickly.When Liu Hu found out, it was already a beat late. He immediately sent his general Hu Lingxiu to chase along the east bank with the army to monitor Zhang Xingshi's movements. In the evening of the next day, Zhang Xingshi went to Jingjiangpu to stay and camp, and Hu Lingxiu also camped on the spot to observe the situation and wait for Liu Hu's successor army.Unexpectedly, this was Zhang Xingshi's blindfold again. Taking advantage of the darkness, he secretly sent Zodiac to lead 70 speedboats to Qianxi upstream (now east of Guichi, Anhui Province) to set up a camp. Hu Lingxiu waited on the east bank for a day, wondering if the other party hadn't moved, Zhang Xingshi broke out of the camp and rushed forward, rushing towards the Qianxi water village where the camp had been set up.Only then did Hu Lingxiu realize that she had been fooled, and it was too late to stop her. When Liu Hu learned that Qianxi was occupied, he personally led an army to besiege it.Zhang Xingshi waited for work with leisure, saw the opportunity when the enemy army turned into the harbor, and defeated Liu Hu's army with hundreds of elite soldiers.At this time, Shen Youzhi, Wu Xi and others in the downstream also began to attack Yuan Ke in Nonghu to share Zhang Xingshi's worries. Liu Hu sent someone to shout downstream along the bank, saying: "Qianxi has been shot down!" Shen Youzhi smiled and said to the left and right: "Don't be afraid, this is Liu Hu's deceit. If Qianxi is really lost, our Among the 7,000 soldiers, at least some will report back; they must have lost the battle and want to disturb our morale." Then the news of the victory from the upper reaches came, and the morale of the army was boosted, while Yuan Ke and others were terrified. Because Zhang Xingshi cut off the upstream waterway, Deng Wan's rations could no longer reach Nonghu Lake, and the rebels finally lost their fighting spirit and internal strife broke out.Liu Hu and Yuan Qi abandoned their camps and fled westward, but were killed on the way.All the 100,000 soldiers left by Yuan Ke surrendered to Liu Xiuren. Deng Wan in Xunyang City had enjoyed the glory and wealth for several months, and it was over.Zhang Yue, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, conspired with the left and right to trick him into the account, beheaded him, and surrendered to the court.Shen Youzhi's army entered Xunyang City and beheaded Liu Zixun, the king of Jin'an who was only eleven years old.All other princes who supported Liu Zixun were given death. Liu Jun has ten sons left, some of whom are only a few years old.In order to avoid future troubles, Liu Yu accepted Liu Xiuren's advice, ordered them to die, and beheaded all related cronies and accomplices.I don't know how many internal massacres this is. The south has basically settled down. The states and counties farther from Jiankang originally supported Liu Zixun, but now they had no choice but to send envoys to surrender to the emperor.Xue Andu, Cui Daogu, Shen Wenxiu and others stationed in Huaibei are not weak because they want to defend against the threat of the Northern Wei Dynasty.For their request to surrender, Liu Yu's appropriate approach should be to pardon their crimes and appease them.But Liu Yu thought that his army was invincible, and he insisted on demonstrating to the towns in Huaibei. He sent Zhang Yong and Shen Youzhi to lead a heavy army northward to meet Xue Andu. Xue An was still hesitating, seeing that the imperial court sent a large group of people to come to his Xuzhou, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and surrender to the Northern Wei Dynasty.Of course, the Northern Wei Dynasty warmly welcomed them. They sent Zhendong General Wei Yuan and others to rescue Pengcheng from the east road with 10,000 cavalry, and sent Zhenxi General Tuoba Shi and others to rescue Xuanhu from the west road. Pengcheng was thus occupied by the Wei army.Not only did Zhang Yong and Shen Youzhi's troops fail to attack Pengcheng, they were attacked by the cavalry of Wei Yuan and Xue Andu. The entire army was wiped out, and the two generals fled back to the south alone.The Song army, which had just won a battle in the civil war, suffered a painful defeat in the foreign war. Once Pengcheng was lost, Qingzhou, Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou in the north could no longer hold on, and they surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty one after another.Emperor Wen of Song fought for the northern border for decades in three Northern Expeditions. Because of the civil strife in Song State itself, he just retreated thousands of miles.Liu Song's Huaibei territory was completely lost, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties also entered a new period of planning and ruling the Huaihe River.Both the south and the north will face new tests. Please see the next part, "Ming Lord and Faint Lord".