Chapter 58 Seventeen, fighting inside and outside

While Emperor Xiaowen promulgated edicts to reform customs, he also further consolidated the three major systems implemented in the era of Empress Dowager Feng.In June of the 21st year of Taihe (AD 497), he felt that the internal reorganization was almost done, so he ordered the mobilization of 200,000 troops from the five prefectures of Ji, Ding, Ying, Xiang, and Ji in Hebei. He conquered by himself, and led the main force with his most powerful younger brother, Pengcheng Wang Yuanxie, to attack the Southern Qi Dynasty on a large scale.The second contest between Emperor Wei Xiaowen and Emperor Qi Ming began. (There were three large-scale wars between Wei and Qi. The first was the war in Shouyang after Xiao Daocheng usurped the Song Dynasty, the second was the Huai-Han War between the eighteenth and nineteenth years of Taihe, and the Three times is this battle. This battle is also the last contest between the two emperors.)

The center of gravity of the Northern Wei Dynasty's offensive was Yongzhou in the middle road. After the previous contest, Emperor Qi Ming also understood the importance of guarding the middle road. Huang Yao, the prefect of Xirunan and Beiyiyang counties, started to guard Zheyang and Wuyin (now northwest of Biyang, Henan). On the side of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xue Zhendu, the governor of Jingzhou (Xue Andu's younger brother), sent troops to attack Nanyang in the Southern Qi Dynasty before the army was assembled, and was defeated by Fang Boyu, the prefect of Nanyang.Nanyang was just a small county in Huainan and Jiangbei, and the resistance was so tenacious, which made Emperor Wei Xiaowen feel very sad.After the army went south, he left the generals to attack Zheyang, while he himself led the troops south to attack Wancheng, the prefecture of Nanyang (now Nanyang, Henan).

Fang Boyu's strategy is to abandon the outer city, close the inner city and strictly guard it.Although the Wei army easily conquered the outer city, they were helpless with the solid inner city.Emperor Xiaowen sent Sun Yanjing, a member of Zhongshushe, to the city to persuade him to surrender, saying: "Our army's southern expedition this time is different from the past. If we don't attack the city, we will not retreat. Therefore, your Wancheng will have to be captured sooner or later. It can be as long as one year, and as short as one month. Please think about it carefully. Whether you can be a marquis or beheaded is only a matter of thought. After careful investigation, you have committed three crimes: you were a minister of Emperor Wu of Qi in the first dynasty, and you were favored. It is the first crime not to be loyal to the whole festival; Xue Zhendu came to attack the city, and you defeated him, which is the second crime; and if the emperor comes in person, you refuse to surrender face-to-face, which is the third crime. There are three Sin, don’t you hurry up and sacrifice the city?”

Fang Bo Yuxin said, "It's unreasonable to make it reasonable for you. Is it still reasonable?" He asked Le Yarou, the deputy in the army, to climb up the tower and replied: "Since you are going to attack the city, then fight with your heart. My Fang Bo Yu's status is humble, and I was fortunate enough to fight against Dajia, and I deserved to die! Although I have received the kindness of Emperor Wu, I dare not forget it, but the successor has no way, and the current emperor ascends the throne, and he also respects Emperor Wu's edict; so I am also filial. Xue Zhendu entered the bandits , Disturbed the border residents, so I asked my officers and soldiers to give him a good lesson. I also did my duty, so I am not guilty."

Seeing that the persuasion to surrender failed, Emperor Xiaowen led his army to patrol around the city in search of opportunities for combat.Fang Boyu didn't want Fang Boyu to set up a plan first, and ambushed several death squads under the bridge outside the city, wearing tiger-spotted clothes and tiger-headed hats.When Emperor Xiaowen's team passed by, these people suddenly jumped out and launched an attack. Emperor Xiaowen was scared to death with both men and horses. Fortunately, he was lucky and was not seriously injured.The left and right sharpshooters immediately came to help and shot the Southern Qi ambushes to death, saving the emperor's life.

Emperor Xiaowen was shocked, and when he looked up, the morale of the Qi soldiers at the top of Wancheng was high.He was forced to change his plan, leaving Wang Yuanxi of Xianyang to continue to attack Wancheng, while he took a troop and continued southward to attack Xinye. Xinye is not a soft persimmon either. The prefect Liu Siji defended the city to resist, and the Wei army's offensive made no progress.Emperor Xiaowen ordered to build a long wall outside the city as a long-term plan, and sent a message to the city: "Fang Boyu has surrendered, why do you have to stick to the city alone?"

Liu Siji replied immediately: "There are still a lot of troops and food in the city, and I haven't had time to listen to you little barbarian!" The military situation at this time was that hundreds of thousands of infantry and cavalry from the Northern Wei Dynasty were scattered outside several cities such as Zheyang, Wancheng, and Xinye in Nanyang and continued to attack continuously, while the defenders in each city were only tens of thousands, and the numbers were very different.Emperor Qi Ming sent Pei Shuye, Xiao Yan, and Cui Huijing successively to rescue Yongzhou. Even so, the Qi army was still at a disadvantage.The house leak coincided with the continuous night rain, and fifteen generals including Han Xiufang, the former general of the Southern Qi army, surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Qi army was greatly weakened in terms of strength and will.The Wei army defeated the Qi army in the north of Mianshui (now the Han River), and captured a group of generals from the Southern Qi Dynasty, and fought all the way to the north bank of Mianshui.

Under the predicament, the commanders of the Southern Qi Dynasty racked their brains to hit the gate of Wei Jun's life.Pei Shuye, the governor of Xuzhou, had fought against the Wei army many times. He grasped the characteristics of the Wei army and came up with a clever plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao: outflank the Wei army, invade its border, and lure the troops who attacked Yong and Si states to retreat.So, he led his army and horses, set off from Zhongli, took advantage of the gap, and attacked Hongcheng (now Wuhexi, Anhui) on the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.But when he attacked Chu Wangshu in the Northern Wei Dynasty (now southwest of Linquan, Anhui), he was ambushed by Wei general Fu Yong and left in a big defeat. He still failed to solve the problem of the siege of several cities in essence.

In the first month of the following year (the 21st year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the fifth year of Jianwu in the Southern Qi Dynasty, and 498 AD), the advantage of the offensive side became more and more obvious.Li Zuo, the commander of the Northern Wei Dynasty, captured Xinye first, and Liu Siji, the prefect, was captured. He would rather die than surrender and was killed.The guards of the cities in Mianbei heard that Xinye had fallen, and fled south one after another. Huyang, Zheyang, Wuyin, Nanxiang and other places were occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty. One month later, the northern city of Wancheng was captured by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Fang Boyu was forced to surrender.After half a year of fierce fighting, the counties such as Nanyang and Xinye to the north of Xiangyang all fell into the hands of the Wei army.

Emergency documents from Fancheng and Xiangyang flew to Emperor Qi Ming's case one after another. However, there were not many strong generals around him, so he had to send Taiwei Chen Xianda to lead the army to rescue. This was the fourth branch organized by the Southern Qi in just a few months. Yongzhou reinforcements.Then he sent the left guard general Xiao Huixiu to reinforce Shouyang. Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan was deeply exhausted physically and mentally, and his physical strength was gradually exhausted.The battle in front was in full swing, but he was seriously ill in the rear, and his condition was getting worse.Like Emperor Song Ming, he was also worried about the rule of his heirs when he got up on the sick bed.Since he had not ascended the throne for a long time, Emperor Qi Ming had only nine sons, and the eldest son, the prince Xiao Baojuan, was only sixteen years old. There were still ten descendants of Emperor Qi Gao and Emperor Wu, most of whom were adults.He summoned his nephew Shi'an Wang Xiao Yaoguang into the palace to discuss matters, often talking very late, and finally decided not to keep any of them, let Xiao Yaoguang act, and killed all ten princes.What is particularly ironic is that this bloodthirsty emperor still believed in Buddhism and was afraid of retribution. Before killing someone, he would burn incense and pray in the inner hall, sobbing and weeping, which was extremely hypocritical. (Who knows that "retribution" is not good, and the Buddha is too lazy to bless such a demon. His descendants will soon be wiped out in Xiaoliang, and praying and crying have no effect.)

So many people died, and Emperor Qi Ming's health was even worse. For the sake of auspiciousness, he ordered to change Yuan Yongtai.The minister guessed that the emperor's time was running out, and the main force of the Qi army had already marched to the northern front, and the rear was relatively empty, so some people rebelled. The person who rebelled was Wang Jingze, the founding hero of the Qi State and the Grand Administrator of Kuaiji.Wang Jing helped Xiao Daocheng usurp the throne of Liu Song, and he was very trusted in the Gaodi and Wudi dynasties; Feng Shui took turns, and in the Ming Dynasty, he was highly suspected.Emperor Qi Ming was critically ill many times, and he was worried about this veteran, so he appointed Dr. Guanglu Zhang Yu as the general of Pingdong and the prefect of Wujun.This move was obviously against Wang Jingze, and Wang Jingze knew it in his heart. He said to his cronies: "Pingdong, Pingdong, who is there in the east (Kaiji is east of Wujun), just want to get me done." How can it be so easy, I will not admit defeat easily!" However, Wang Jingze's method was not very clever. Without sufficient preparation and greetings in advance, he raised the banner of supporting Xiao Yi's second son and Nankang king Xiao Zike as emperor.Before contacting Xiao Zike, Xiao Zike had already fled to Jiankang Palace, and reported to Emperor Ming about Wang Jingze's rebellion.Emperor Ming hurriedly ordered Zhang Yu to lead 3,000 soldiers to the south to resist. (Xiao Zike's voluntary surrender is a great merit. Emperor Qi Ming had originally conspired with Xiao Yaoguang to wipe out all the grandchildren of Emperor Gao. Xiao Yi's children, including Xiao Zike, were doomed to survive. Even the coffin was prepared. Xiao Zike informed The messenger sent Emperor Ming a "good heart" and stopped killing innocent people indiscriminately. Xiao Yi and his sons were able to escape from danger and saved their lives.) Zhang Yu is not a very good fighter (those who can fight have already been sent to the front line to deal with the Wei army), and he has no commanding ability. As soon as his soldiers heard the drums of Wang Jingze's army, they dispersed in an instant Without a trace, Zhang Yu himself also gave up Wu County and sneaked into the folks to hide.For a while, the common people who were dissatisfied with the status quo all picked up bamboo poles and hoes, and came to follow Wang Jingze.Wang Jingze's army was mighty and mighty, crossing Zhejiang (i.e. Qiantang River), there were as many as hundreds of thousands—of course, there were probably less than 10,000 of them who were really capable of fighting. Although Wang Jing was a veteran in Gaodi's era, he was a coward at best.When Emperor Ming sent Taicheng troops to build fortifications in Qu'a (now Danyang, Jiangsu Province), and fought a protracted war with Wang Jingze, Wang Jingze suffered a disadvantage.The imperial army attacked from both sides, and the ordinary people who came just to join in the fun panicked. Wang Jing fell off his mount in the chaos, and was shot down by the rear general Cui Gongzu and died. Wang Jing's rebellion subsided, and Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan quickly swallowed his last breath.He dumped a chaotic Qi state with internal and external troubles to his prince Xiao Baojuan.At this time, on the northern battlefield, Qi and Wei were still seeing each other in Yiyang (now north of Xinyang, Henan) on the edge of the Huai River. When Emperor Xiaowen of Wei heard that Emperor Qi Ming had passed away, he issued an edict saying "ceremony does not cut funerals", and he withdrew his troops completely.In my opinion, there are roughly three reasons for the Wei army's real withdrawal: first, the Wei army has been marching south for more than a year, and has achieved certain results. The transfer of orders, the rebellion, and the defeat of the Northern Wei army that went to suppress the rebellion cannot be ignored; third, and most importantly, Emperor Xiaowen himself has been in the army for a long time, and he has been sick from overwork and unable to continue commanding.