Chapter 50 9. Yuan Chongzu's decisive battle against Shouyang

The year that Empress Dowager Feng killed Li Shi, the Northern Wei Dynasty was changed to Yuan Taihe.This is a 23-year reign title, unique in the 150-year history of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Contrary to the tradition of emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was commonplace for feudal emperors in the Middle Ages to change their reign names, and those who did not respect etiquette like the abolished emperors of the Liu and Song Dynasties could change their reigns every year. to the point of twice.Among these short-lived reign titles, long-lived reign titles, especially those over 20 years old, are extremely precious.So what does the long-lived year name "Taihe" mean?

We might as well make a small statistics. Among the great dynasties from Wei, Jin to Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were only seven reign titles that lasted more than 20 years. The "Kaihuang" of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, the "Zhenguan" of Taizong, the "Kaiyuan" of Xuanzong, and the "Zhenyuan" of Dezong.Among these years, the situation of "Taiyuan" is relatively poor, but it was also a relatively stable period in the middle and late Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Feishui victory also occurred during this period (the eighth year of Taiyuan).The other four reign titles of the Sui and Tang Dynasties are relatively well known. The Kaihuang reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was an era of great unification. China ended the split between the north and the south. Known as "Zhenyuan Zhongxing", it was the peak period of the early Tang, prosperous Tang and mid Tang.From this, we can roughly draw the conclusion that the long year number in medieval China was often an important feature of political stability and economic prosperity.The only two long-term titles in the Southern and Northern Dynasties also further support our conclusion: "Yuanjia" in the Southern Dynasties, as we have said, was the most important ruling period in the Southern Dynasties; correspondingly, "Taihe" in the Northern Dynasties marked The heyday of the Northern Dynasties.The rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty reached an unprecedented peak during the period of Taihe. Half a century later, Yang Xuanzhi recounted the situation of the "prosperous age of Taihe" in his "Luoyang Jialan Ji":

"At that time, the four seas were clear, and the eight wastelands were in charge of the office. The sacks were used to celebrate the celebrations, and the jade candles were used to adjust the time. The people were in Yinfu, and they were enjoying the common music. Widows and widows did not hear the food of dogs and hogs, and they did not see the clothes of cattle and horses." The person who has single-handedly created a brilliant figure is the Empress Dowager Feng herself, and the proud "disciple" she single-handedly trained - Tuoba Hong, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Even the best and most predictable rulers cannot always follow the correct political line from the beginning.Twenty-three years of the Taihe era kicked off with a wrong decision in the Civil War. After Tuoba Tao's death, the rulers of the Northern Dynasties were busy caring for the Quartet, and the rulers of the Southern Dynasties were busy fighting endlessly, and they had no time to engage in large-scale border operations.The loss of teachers and land in the Southern Dynasty in the early years of Emperor Song and Ming Dynasty was purely caused by Liu Yu's mishandling.After that time, although there were minor frictions on the border, none of them had any impact on their respective jurisdictions.Ten years of vicissitudes have changed dramatically, and in a flick of a finger, the confrontation between Song and Wei was replaced by the confrontation between Qi and Wei.In the third year of Taihe (the first year of Jianyuan in the Southern Qi Dynasty, 479 A.D.), the Northern Wei Dynasty heard that Xiao Daocheng had established himself in the Song Dynasty, and felt that there was an opportunity to attack Qi.The Xianbei people thought of a seemingly righteous banner, and they played the card of Danyang King Liu Chang.

After Liu Chang returned to the Northern Wei Dynasty, he was treated very highly by the Northern Wei Dynasty. Not only was he recruited as a son-in-law, but he was also named King of Danyang.Eighteen of the nineteen sons of Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, had long been wiped out, and the last one alive was actually Liu Chang, who "defected to a foreign country". The Northern Wei Dynasty supported Liu Chang and fought against the Southern Dynasties in the name of fighting against Qi and restoring the Song Dynasty, which had its own unique intention.After the failure of Foli drinking horses on the Yangtze River, Tuoba Xianbei was actually very secretive about the issue of southward invasion. They gradually realized that there is no problem in flattening the north by purely military conquest. Yi" is still quite difficult.After nearly two hundred years of the Great Separation, some of the differences between the North and the South are almost as great as two different worlds.In this case, a partial military victory cannot change the fundamental situation of the division, but will only result in unnecessary consumption of property and manpower.Therefore, the Xianbei people retreated to the next best thing and supported a puppet regime to achieve the goal of controlling the Southern Dynasty. Even if the southern regime could not be completely eliminated, the establishment of a buffer vassal state between the Jianghuai and Huaihe Rivers would be of great benefit to the North. And harmless.

Wishful thinking is indeed reasonable, but when the Northern Wei Dynasty sent troops, it ignored a very important factor to fully win the support of the southern people. If you push a man surnamed Liu to be emperor, everyone may not necessarily oppose it. The problem is that you insist on overthrowing the regime surnamed Xiao, and everyone does not think it will do any good.The Liu family has conquered each other for twenty years, and their lives have been devastated. It has not been a day or two since they lost the hearts of the people. The common people have no affection for them for a long time, and they don't care who is in power.What's more, except for the change of the country name and surname, the whole south has not changed much.Under such circumstances, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not instigate a rebellion on the border, but directly suppressed the border with large soldiers, crossed the Huai River, and entered the territory of the Southern Qi Dynasty.

Compared with the two, Xiao Daocheng was much more prepared. Before and after he proclaimed himself emperor, he did two major things to deal with the Northern Wei Dynasty: one was to transfer Yanzhou governor Yuan Chongzu to Yuzhou governor to guard Shouyang (now Shouxian County, Anhui).Yuan Chongzu made outstanding military exploits in the late Liu Song Dynasty, and later served as the prefect in Huainan area. He once worked with Xiao Daocheng and respected Xiao Daocheng very much.Xiao Daocheng also attached great importance to him. When he proclaimed himself emperor, he not only put Yuan Chongzu in the most important position, but also told him: "I have just won the world now, and Suolu will definitely use the name of escorting Liu Chang to mobilize the army and attack the army. In our country, Shouyang is the first to bear the brunt, and the only one who can subdue the strong bandits is the general.” Yuan Chongzu deeply felt the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and actively prepared for the war, waiting for foreign enemies.

Another thing is to send Xiaoqi General Wang Hongfan to Rouran to discuss the crusade against the Northern Wei Dynasty.At that time, Rouran was weak in the face of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the southeast, but had expanded a lot of power in the Western Regions in the southwest.Wang Hongfan's mission set out from Shu, traveled long distances through Tuyuhun and the Western Regions, and met Rouran Khan.At that time, the Khan of Rouran had been replaced by Yucheng, the son of Tuhezhen.This khan was indeed relatively affordable. There were not many positive conflicts between him and the Northern Wei Dynasty. He only competed for power circles with the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Western Regions, which was weak in the Northern Wei Dynasty's rule, and maintained Rouran's basic living space.Encouraged by the envoys of the Southern Dynasty, Yucheng sent troops in the winter of the first year of Jianyuan to harass the Great Wall of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

However, this harassment was not successful. It was probably out of fear of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Yucheng's hundreds of thousands of cavalry troops ran north of the Great Wall before announcing their withdrawal. The army of the Northern Wei Dynasty attacking the Southern Qi was nominally commanded by Liu Chang, but in fact it was divided into three groups. Tuoba Jia, Prince of Liang Jun, attacked Huaiyin, Tuoba Chen, Duke of Longxi, attacked Guangling, and Xue Huzi, Duke of Hedong, attacked Shouyang. In the fourth year of Taihe (the second year of Jianyuan in the Southern Qi Dynasty, 480 A.D.), the Wei army led by Tuobachen took the lead in attacking Matou Garrison in the Southern Qi Dynasty (northwest of today's Shouxian County, Anhui), and then attacked Zhongli (northeast of Fengyang, Anhui today). ), was defeated by Cui Wenzhong, the governor of Xuzhou, and retreated to the north of Shouyang.

The army of the Northern Wei Dynasty regrouped, led by Tuoba Jia and Liu Chang, claiming 200,000 soldiers on foot, and marched straight to Shouyang.One hundred years ago, Fu Jian's 800,000 troops stumbled here. Now the Wei army does not believe in evil, and they have to try again.Liu Chang was mobilized before the battle, and the scene was very solemn. He bowed to the soldiers from all directions, and called with tears: "Everyone work together, avenge me!" Before the Wei army could be killed, the Qi army in Shouyang City was deeply shocked by the momentum of the Wei army. Although there were many civil and military officials, they lacked countermeasures.Seeing that the crowd was at a loss, Yuan Chongzu said: "The enemy is outnumbered and we need to be victorious. When Fu Jian was defeated on the north bank of Feishui, I think we can also make an article about Feishui. The soldiers are now starting to renovate the exterior. What do you think of building dikes and dikes on the Feishui River to strengthen defenses?"

Everyone didn't understand, and said: "When Tuoba Tao attacked Shouyang, Nanping Wang Liu Shuo had many generals, morale was high, and his strength was ten times that of ours. He still thought that the outer city was too big to defend, so he retreated into the inner city to defend himself. Bao. Ever since Feishui came into being, I have never heard of anyone building dikes on it, because the terrain is not conducive to building weirs. Can this be useful? I’m afraid it’s a waste of time.” Yuan Chongzu shook his head and said: "You people, you only know how to use the old examples. If our army abandons the outer city, there is no doubt that Suolu will occupy it, and build a tower outside and a long tower inside. Wall, our army is just sitting there waiting to die! It’s settled, guard the outer city, build embankments, you don’t have to persuade me anymore!” Yuan Chongzu ordered that while the Wei army was still on the way, he sent people to quickly build dikes in the northwest of Shouyang City to intercept the Fei water from the upper reaches, and built a small city in the north of the dike, dug ditches on all sides, and arranged thousands of guards in the city. soldier.After the fortifications were completed, Yuan Chongzu said to the crowd: "Suolu is greedy. Seeing that the city is small and small, he thought he could conquer it in one fell swoop, so he will definitely attack with all his strength. When the time comes, we will break the weir and release the water without using a single soldier. We will teach them whether to come or not." Come back, they all turned into floating corpses. Isn't this getting twice the result with half the effort!" When the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty came under the small city, they concentrated their forces to attack the city as Yuan Chongzu said.Yuan Chongzu saw it clearly from the top of the city, and ordered the guards in the city to attract the Wei soldiers who were besieging the city.At the same time, a special agent team has quietly ran to the embankment and is ready. At dusk, the Wei soldiers did not make much progress in their siege, so they had to rest for dinner.Before the meal was ready, the Qi soldiers on the upper reaches broke open the dike, and the flood rushed down, all the Wei soldiers were rushed into the ditch, and the outside of the small town suddenly became a vast ocean.The Wei army was completely unprepared for Yuan Chongzu's "surprising soldiers". Thousands of people drowned, and those who escaped by chance fled north in a hurry.The swearing Liu Chang was also dumbfounded, so he had to retreat on the grounds that it was the turn of spring and summer and the amount of rain increased.The first offensive and defensive battle between Qi and Wei, the Battle of Shouyang, ended with Yuan Chongzu's great victory.