Chapter 61 Twenty, Xiao Yan Dai Qi

Since Xiao Daocheng in the Southern Dynasties, people from the Xiao family in Lanling have emerged in endlessly.A group of old Xiao, Da Xiao, and Xiao Xiao, although they belonged to the same clan, they were also close and distant, which made "Xiao" dizzy.It is necessary for us to add the background information of Xiao Yi and Xiao Yan brothers here. There are ten Xiao Yi brothers. Their father Xiao Shunzhi, as we have already mentioned, was an official at Danyang Yin, and was posthumously presented to General Zhenbei after his death.Xiao Shunzhi is Xiao Daocheng's younger brother, and to put it more clearly, the great-grandfather of the two of them is the same, that is, Xiao Zheng who moved south in the late Western Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, according to the line of generation in the family tree, Qi Wu Emperor Xiao Yu, Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan, Xiao Yi, Xiao Yan and others are all brothers of the same generation.Brothers are brothers, but not necessarily a family, after all, so many generations have passed.Xiao Luan is so cruel and ruthless to his cousin's offspring, how can a distant relative like Xiao Yi be trusted? That's what Xiao Baojuan was muttering in his heart, and so was Ru Fazhen and others beside him.However, this time they all missed it. Xiao Yi is a "loyal minister", even a bit pedantic. His third brother, Yongzhou Governor Xiao Yan, is the real threat within Qi.

Xiao Yan, we will slowly mention in the future, is almost an all-rounder.When he was young, he was Xiao Ziliang's guest of honor with eight people including Shen Yue, Xie Tiao and Wang Rong, and he had high literary attainments.Not only that, but his political sensitivity is also stronger than many people. Xiao Baojuan had just become emperor, and he could see that this guy's world would not last long.After getting Yongzhou and stationing in Xiangyang, he was like a fish in water. He secretly joined the army with his secretary Zhang Hongce to recruit talents, repair armaments, and wait for the opportunity.At that time, Xiao Yi had just stepped down from the position of governor of Yizhou and was engaged in the affairs of Yingzhou. Xiao Yan sent Zhang Hongce to Yingzhou to persuade his elder brother to cooperate with him.Xiao Yi didn't listen, all he could think about was how to assist Xiao Baojuan.

Such a person cannot survive in troubled times.After Xiao Yi eliminated Cui Huijing, Xiao Yan sent his cronies to offer him two options: 1. Rein in the army to enter the palace, do what Yi Yin and Huo Guang did, and make meritorious deeds for all ages; Vibrating inside and outside, at least the court can't touch him casually.Xiao Yi refused to accept both options, obediently obeyed Xiao Baojuan's edict, and served in Jiankang. Half a year later, Xiao Baojuan ordered someone to deliver medicine and wine to Xiao Yi's post, and gave him the gift of returning to the west.Even at the moment before his death, Xiao Yi still had a chance to escape—his subordinate Shi Xu Yaofu got the news in advance, prepared the boat by the river, and persuaded him to go to Xiangyang to find Xiao Yan.But Xiao Yi aspired to be a minister of Qi, and he only said: "Everyone has died since ancient times, so how can there be a minister who betrayed?" , my younger brother is in Yongzhou, he will definitely raise troops to take revenge, and I am deeply worried about the court!"

After Xiao Baojuan got rid of Xiao Yi, he ordered people to search everywhere for Xiao Yi's seven younger brothers (the second brother Xiao Fu and the fourth brother Xiao Chang died early, and the seven living people at this time were led by Xiao Yan), but only five of them were captured and killed. Brother Xiao Rong, and the others either defected to Xiao Yan beforehand, or hid among the people and could not be found. As soon as Xiao Yan in Xiangyang got the news of Xiao Yi's death, he summoned his cronies Zhang Hongce, Lu Sengzhen and others overnight, and said to them: "The current Lord is tyrannical, and his crimes are far worse than that of King Zhou. We should work together to destroy him." !" Xiao Yan, who had already prepared well, quickly assembled more than 10,000 soldiers, thousands of horses, and 3,000 ships in Xiangyang; The governor of Jingzhou and Xiao Baorong, the king of Nankang, joined forces to attack Jiankang.

Xiao Baojuan learned of Xiao Yan's movements, and ordered Liu Shanyang, the general of Fuguo and the prefect of the second county of Zitong in Brazil, to lead an army of 3,000 to join Xiao Yingzhou in Jiangling and attack Yongzhou. The news from both ends reached Jiangling almost at the same time.Xiao Yingzhou's Jingzhou soldiers had always been most afraid of the Xiangyang soldiers in the north, thinking that they would definitely not be their opponents if they met in battle, even if they were lucky and won the fight, Xiao Yi's example would still be there.Weighing the pros and cons, he decided to support the imperial court overtly, but to support Xiao Yan secretly, and set up an ambush in Jiangling City. As soon as Liu Shanyang entered the city gate, he beheaded Liu Shanyang and sent an envoy to present his head to Xiao Yan.Then, Xiao Yingzhou issued a call to action, listing the crimes of Xiao Baojuan and his favorite ministers, and divided his troops to attack Xiangzhou and Xiakou.Wei Rui, the prefect of Shangyong, Kang Xuan, the prefect of Huashan (now Yicheng, Hubei), and Liu Tun, the governor of Nanqin Prefecture in Liangzhou, all led the crowd to respond to Xiao Yan.

In the third year of Yongyuan (501 A.D.), Xiao Yan formally raised troops in Xiangyang, supported Xiao Baorong, who was far away in Jiangling, as emperor, and changed Yuan Zhongxing.The fourteen-year-old younger brother of Xiao Baojuan was the last emperor of Southern Qi——Emperor Qihe. The rebel army was in full swing all the way, and after meeting in Xiakou, they went straight to Yingzhou (now Wuchang, Hubei).Xiao Baojuan sent military leaders Wu Ziyang and Chen Huya to lead the thirteenth army to rescue, stationed in Bakou (now eastern Hubei), and the two armies were in a state of confrontation.Xiao Yingzhou thinks that the opportunity to capture Yingzhou has been lost, so it is better to ask for help from the Northern Wei Dynasty.Xiao Yan replied: "Hankou is located in the center of several prefectures. We don't need to attack Yingzhou with all our strength. We only need to hold this place and attack the reinforcements sent from the east. When the food and grass in Yingzhou city are exhausted, we will surrender. At that time, our army will be able to fight against the reinforcements sent from the east. Down the river, the general trend is certain!"

Xiao Yan's tactic of "siege the city and fight for aid" really worked. Wu Ziyang's army could not go any further when they reached Jiahu in the east of Yingzhou (now southeast of Huangpi, Hubei).Although the distance inside and outside the city was only thirty miles, they were divided and surrounded by the rebel army, and they had no choice but to fight on their own.Taking advantage of the skyrocketing autumn water, the rebel army raided Jiahu with a water army and won a complete victory.Xue Yuansi and Chen Bozhi, who guarded Yingzhou and Jiangzhou, were forced to surrender.

The door of Jiankang was opened, and there was no army to stop the imperial court, and the rebel army quickly spread all over the northwest of Jiankang City.There was no tension on Xiao Baojuan's face at all. He still had fun as before, and built a shopping mall in the Fangle Garden in the palace. The maids and eunuchs were the vendors, and Concubine Pan was the market order to manage the shopping malls. I am in charge of recording things, copying and writing next to me, which is very enjoyable.Ru Fazhen reported that Xiao Yan's army had passed Xunyang, Xiao Baojuan smiled and said, "No rush, wait until the enemy army arrives at Baimen (Jiankang South Gate, also known as Xuanyang Gate), Let's fight to the death with him!" Xiao Yan's army was not far from the city, and in order to increase his strength to defend the city, he even ordered people to select prisoners from the prison in Miyagi to join the army, and the death row prisoners who could not be pardoned were dragged directly to Suzaku's gate and killed. Head, killed more than a hundred people at once. (The emperor is also a model of "playing life" for the sake of doing so.)

The two armies met in front of Zhuquehang in the south of the city. Xiao Baojuan ordered the conquering general Wang Zhenguo, the military leader Hu Huya and others to lead more than 100,000 Taiwanese troops to fight against each other. He also sent his favorite eunuch Wang Baosun to supervise the battle with a white tiger banner.Wang Baosun probably heard the allusion of Han Xin's backwater formation, so he released water on the Qinhuai River to prevent the Taiwan army from retreating.He didn't think about it carefully, Han Xin was the master of the deadly battle, but not many of the current Taiwanese army were willing to work for Xiao Baojuan.Xiao Yan's vanguard generals Cao Jingzong and Lu Sengzhen set fire to the Taiwan army barracks and charged with all their strength. The Taiwan army immediately collapsed and fled in all directions. Countless people died on the Qinhuai River. The soldiers who came up from behind rushed away stepping on the floating corpses on the water past.Xiao Baojuan's generals scrambled to surrender the city. Xiao Yan entered the stone city and ordered all the troops to attack the six gates of Jiankang.Xiao Baojuan's army burned down the battalion offices and government offices inside the city gate, and all retreated into the palace city, closing the gate and defending it.

Until now, Xiao Baojuan still believed that he was sure of winning. Chen Xianda and Cui Huijing besieged Miyagi twice, but they never came back. How could Xiao Yan be an exception?Xiao Baojuan was very excited to have an actual combat opportunity.Fight the real battle outside, and play drills inside.The 70,000 soldiers in the city were organized by him to play war games with court ladies, eunuchs, etc., while he himself wore armor and gorgeous equipment, rode on a big horse, and commanded the battle; He believes that this method can eliminate disasters for him and avoid defeat on the battlefield. The firewood prepared in Miyagi is only enough for one hundred days, and the only way to survive is to go out of the city and fight the rebels.But Zhuquehang was defeated, and the morale of the surviving Taiwan army was low. Let alone a deadly battle, I am afraid that they will collapse as soon as they come into contact with the rebel army.Ru Fazhen and others were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, ran to Xiao Baojuan and kowtowed, begging him to reward the officers and soldiers with money and silver to improve their combat effectiveness.Xiao Baojuan spent money for Concubine Pan without blinking his eyes, but asked him to give money to reward officers and soldiers, but he became indolent.He complained: "The bandits didn't want my life alone, so why only ask me for money!" Don't even think about taking a penny. The sergeants also proposed to Xiao Baojuan to take the high-quality wood from the back hall of the palace to strengthen the city defense, but he refused to give it, and wanted to keep it for the gate of the palace.Not counting this, he instead ordered the construction of fine spears used by 300 people, and carved gold and silver objects, and waited until Xiao Yan's army was repelled to celebrate.The guards in the city no longer had the will to fight, and everyone was passive and sabotaged, only thinking about deserting and escaping. Seeing this, Ru Fazhen said to Xiao Baojuan: "Some ministers are so careless that they can't get out of the siege. They should be killed as an example to others." Xiao Baojuan was still hesitating, but Wang Zhenguo and Zhang Ji, who were guarding the city, were terrified.On the one hand, Wang Zhenguo sent his cronies to present a mirror to Xiao Yan to show his heart, and on the other hand, together with Zhang Ji, he secretly contacted Qian Qiang, the eunuch in the palace, through his cronies Zhang Qi.Qian Qiang agreed to act as an internal response to welcome Wang Zhenguo and others into the palace to kill the little emperor. That night, Xiao Baojuan sat alone in the Hall of Hande, playing the sheng and singing, and went to bed very late.Before he fell asleep, he heard the roar of killing outside, and knowing that there was a change in his mind, he jumped out of the north gate and fled to the harem.It was late at night, and the gate of the palace was closed. When Xiao Baojuan turned around and tried to find another way, he was already surrounded by the rebel regiments of Wang Zhenguo and Qian Qiang.When Xiao Baojuan didn't pay attention, he was slashed in the knee by an eunuch and fell to the ground, still shouting: "Your slave is rebelling! Your slave is rebelling!" Zhang Qi sent another knife behind him, beheaded his head, and Wrapped in butter paper, send it to Stone City for Xiao Yan to examine. Xiao Yan's army entered the city, killing eunuchs such as Ru Fazhen and Mei Chong'er, as well as concubine Pan Gui, who brought disaster to the country.Xiao Yan ascended to the position of Supervisor of Zhongshu and Da Sima, and then received the special gift of "walking on the sword and worshiping without name".Faster than Liu Yu and Xiao Daocheng, within three months, he was promoted to Lianggong and Liangwang (it can also be seen that people in the world do not have much affection for Qi, which has not been established for a long time. The tyranny of the Southern Qi Lost the hearts of the people again). History is still going the same old way in a cycle.In the second year of Zhongxing (502 A.D.), Xiao Yan forced Emperor Qihe to take the Zen position on his way back to Jiankang.Emperor Wudi of Liang is still as mysterious as a mystery: his army once marched all the way to the north, opened up territories and restored land;Ming Junxie?Faint Jun Xie?More than a few words can explain clearly.In the era of Emperor Wu of Liang, the Southern and Northern Dynasties entered its second half. More than two centuries later, Liu Changqing, a poet in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, traveled to the hometown of the Southern Dynasties, mourning the historical events, and left a poem that will be recited by posterity: