Chapter 161 Chapter 160 Xuandi Chen Xu

Chen Xu, styled Shaoshi and small styled Shili, was the uncle of Chen Fei Emperor Bozong.He was tall, more than two meters tall, with a tiger head and a tiger head, and an extraordinary appearance.Not only is he strong and brave, he is good at riding and shooting, he has good martial arts, but also he is tolerant, resourceful and decisive, so he is highly valued by Chen Baxian. In the first year of Chengsheng (552 A.D.), Chen Baxian quelled Hou Jing's rebellion. Emperor Liang Yuan was afraid that he would be too difficult to control, so he enlisted Ba's first son and nephew to serve the emperor in name, but he was actually a hostage. The 22-year-old Chen Xu therefore went to Jiangling with Baxian's son Chen Chang.After arriving in Jiangling, Emperor Liang Yuan appointed Chen Xu as the general of Jinge and the servant of Zhongshu, and Mao Xi was also awarded as the servant of Shangshu Gonglun.Two years later, Jiangling was captured by the Western Wei Dynasty, and both Chen Xu and Chen Chang were taken captive to Chang'an.Chen Xu has lived there for 7 years. Fortunately, he is accompanied by Mao Xi, so he is not lonely.In the third year of Tianjia (562 A.D.), Emperor Wen of Chen exchanged Lushan County, and the Zhou Dynasty agreed to let Chen Xu return to the Southern Dynasty.Emperor Chen Wen was very happy to see Chen Xu, and immediately appointed Chen Xu as servant, supervisor of Zhongshu, and general of Zhongwei.Soon, envoys, governors of Yang, Nanxu, Dongyang, Nanyu, and Beijiang were granted military affairs, Yangzhou governor, and the title of Hussar General.

Shortly after Chen Bozong ascended the throne, Chen Xu planned with Mao Xi and others how to arbitrarily rule the court.With the assistance of Mao Xi and others, he first executed Liu Shizhi and other assistant ministers, and then sent troops to quell the Huajiao rebellion.Seeing that the time had come, Chen Xu deposed Chen Bozong as the King of Linhai in November of the second year of Guangda (568 A.D.). In September of this year, Chen Xu was afraid that Ouyang He, who had occupied Guangzhou for more than ten years, would be too powerful to control, so he issued an imperial edict to conscript Ouyang He into the court as General Zuowei.Ouyang He knew that this was actually to cut his real power, so he was very unwilling to be requisitioned and returned to the capital. Under the persuasion of his subordinates, he raised troops to attack Hengzhou governor Qian Daoyuezhao.Daoyue Zhaowen hurriedly reported to Jiankang, and Chen Xu sent Zhongshu Shilang Chijie to Guangzhou to appease, but Ouyang He refused.In October of the same year, Chen Xu ordered Zhang Zhaoda to lead an army to attack Ouyang He.Ouyang He also stepped up preparations for the war, contacted forces everywhere, and expanded the rebel forces.In February of the following year, Ouyang He summoned Feng Pu, the prefect of Yangchun, to Nanhai (now Guangzhou) to rebel against the imperial court.After Feng Pu took part in the rebellion, he sent someone to report to his mother, Mrs. Xian. Mrs. Xian said angrily: "My family has been loyal to the imperial court for two generations. I can't betray the country just because I pity my son!" Go to meet Zhang Zhaoda.When Ouyang He learned that Zhang Zhaoda was leading the army, he was so panicked that he was at a loss. Seeing this, the rebels scattered and fled, and Ouyang He was captured alive and sent to Jiankang.Chen Xu was overjoyed and immediately ordered Ouyang He to be beheaded in the city for public display.

Chen Xu saw that Ouyang He had been calmed down, so he decided to rest and recuperate and not to raise troops again.So they sent people to talk to Zhou Qipin respectively, and two years passed in peace.During this period, Chen Xu encouraged land reclamation, reduced rent and taxes, and production resumed slightly.At the same time, Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was in power, carrying out reforms, and his strength increased rapidly. Only the national strength of the Northern Qi Dynasty gradually weakened.Therefore, Chen Xu wanted to attack Qi and called a group of ministers to discuss.Ministers and ministers made a lot of noise, most of them disapproved of the Northern Expedition, but Wu Mingche, the former general of the town, resolutely advocated the expedition against Qi.After Chen Xu made up his mind, he ordered Wu Mingche to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Qi in March of the fifth year of Taijian (573 A.D.).

Wu Mingche captured Liyang, surrendered Hefei, and led a large army to conquer Renzhou and Xiashi, and advanced to Shouyang.The Qi Dynasty sent Wang Lin, the king of Baling, and Wang Guixian, the governor of Yangzhou, to protect Shouyang.When Ming Che arrived at the beginning of Wang Lin, the army's morale was not stable, and he attacked the city overnight. In the middle of the night, he broke through the outer city, and the Qi soldiers retreated to protect Xiangguo City and Jincheng in the city.Mingche poured fertilized water into the city, and the flood infiltrated into the city, making it extremely damp. Most of the soldiers fell ill with diarrhea, their hands and feet were swollen and rotten, and six or seven out of ten died.At this time, Qi sent General Pi Jinghe to lead an army to rescue Shouyang. The Qi army was afraid, and they were 30 miles away from the city, so they did not enter.Chen Jun's generals were also very nervous when they heard that Qi Dajun was coming, but Wu Mingche was very calm.On the second day, Wu Mingche dressed neatly, personally supervised the formation, commanded Chen Jun to attack from all sides, took down the inner city of Shouyang in one go, and captured Wang Lin, Wang Guixian and others alive. Pi Jing and Zhishouyang had fallen. All the luggage was thrown to Chen Jun.Therefore, the Huai and Si areas were all owned by Chen.

Shouyang was pacified, and Wu Mingche sent people to escort Wang Lin and others to Jiankang.Wang Lin has always imposed punishments cautiously. She despises money and loves soldiers, and won the support of the soldiers. Ming Che is afraid that the night will be long and dreamy. Wang Lin's old department will rebel, so she hastily sent her cronies to catch up, beheaded Wang Lin, and sent her head to Jiankang .Zhu Yu, Wang Lin's old subordinate and former Liang Dynasty hushicang Cao Canjun, wrote a letter to Xu Ling, begging Wang Lin's head to be buried for him.Xu Ling got the book and reported it to the imperial court. Chen Xu was also moved by it, and ordered to return the heads of Wang Lin and Xiong Tanlang to their relatives.Zhu Yu buried Wang Lin's body on the side of Bagong Mountain. Thousands of Wang Lin's old subordinates came to the funeral.

In October of the ninth year of Taijian (557 A.D.), the situation in the north changed dramatically. The powerful Northern Zhou Dynasty had already wiped out the Northern Qi Dynasty.Chen Xu attempted to seize Xu and Dagon by taking advantage of the fire and looting.So the governor of Nanyanzhou and Sikong Wu Mingche were ordered to lead the army to the northern expedition.Wu Mingche defeated the Zhou army in Lvliang and besieged Pengcheng, unable to attack for a long time. In February of the following year, Wu Mingche built a weir to intercept Qingshui (now Surabaya) to irrigate Pengcheng, and deployed boats and ships under the city, and stormed day and night.Liang Shiyan, the defender of Pengcheng, strengthened the defensive force and sent someone to Zhou Ting for emergency.Zhou sent General Wang Gui to send troops to help, and Wang Gui led his troops to rush forward with light clothes, and went straight to the place where the clear water entered the Huaihe River. He connected hundreds of wheels with iron locks and sank in the clear water. Cut off the return of Chen Jun.The generals of the Chen army were very frightened, and they all advocated breaking the weir and pulling out the army, and retreating with boats and horses.Wu Mingche was suffering from back pain, so he agreed to retreat, and sailed across the barrier.Unexpectedly, when they reached Qingkou, the water weakened, and the boats were blocked by wheels and could not pass.Wang Gui led his troops to attack, Chen Jun was defeated, Wu Mingche was captured alive, and 30,000 soldiers, equipment and luggage were all captured by Zhou Bing.Among the armies of the Northern Expedition, only Xiao Mahe and General Ren Zhong led their troops and horses to flee back to Huainan.After Wu Mingche was captured and sent to Chang'an, Emperor Wu of Zhou respected him for his bravery, and named him Lord Huaide, the same rank as a general.Wu Mingche was not happy, and soon died of grief and anger.

After defeating Zhou, Chen Xiang couldn't help thinking of two people, one was Cai Jingli and the other was Mao Xi.Cai Jingli was dismissed from office for admonishing his teacher.Chen Xu now regrets that he did not listen to him at the beginning, so he reappoints Jingli to consult and join the army for King Poyang.A few days later, he moved out to serve as a regular attendant on Sanqi, and also served as the imperial censor Zhongcheng.Mao Xi, a veteran minister, also expressed his opposition to the discussion of defeating Zhou. At this time, Chen Xu said to Mao Xi with deep emotion: "What you said is true today!" Mao likes to plan, so today's defeat is my fault." Therefore, Mao Xi became closer to him.

In November of the eleventh year of Taijian (579 A.D.), Zhou sent Zhuguo Liang Shiyan to lead troops to attack Chen.Chen Xu heard that Kaifu Yitong Sansi and South Yanzhou Inspector Chun Yuliang were the governors of the Shangliu Shui Army, Fan Yi, the leader of the Central Army, was the governor of the North Discussion Army, and Zuowei General Ren Zhongdu was the governor of the North Discussion Front Army, and jointly resisted the Zhou army.Chen Jun divided the road to the north, the former governor of Fengzhou Nie Wenzuo led 3,000 people on foot to Yangping County, Ren Zhong led 7,000 people on foot to Qin County, Renwei General Lu Guangda led the people to Huaihe River, and Fan Yi led 20,000 sailors Entering Jiaohu from Dongguan, General Wuyi Xiao Mahe led his cavalry to Liyang.In just 10 days, Zhou Jun had conquered Yuzhou and Huozhou.Chen Xu urgently ordered Yu Wang Chen Shuling to be the governor of the capital, and the governor of the land and water armies, but he could not contain Zhou Bing.By December, the people of 9 counties including Nanbei Dagon, Jin Sanzhou, Xuyi and Shanyang fled south one after another, and Zhou successfully captured Qiao and Beixu two prefectures.So the north of the Yangtze River disappeared in Zhou Dynasty.

Afterwards, although Chen Xu tried his best to govern, but in the end, because Chen Chao's vitality had been damaged, he could no longer revive his army.In the first month of the fourteenth year of Taijian (582 A.D.), Chen Xu suddenly fell ill and died in Xuanfu Hall shortly thereafter at the age of 53.The posthumous title is "Emperor Xiaoxuan", and the temple title is "Gaozong".