Chapter 40 The defeat of Fangtou hinders the emperor's career

——Huan Wen during the Third Northern Expedition With the military and political power in his hands, coupled with his heroic nature, General Huan gradually had the idea of ​​"undivided" from the Jin Dynasty.Usually bored, he would often lie down and tell his relatives: "Because you are lonely, you will be laughed at by Wen Jing!" It means that if you don't do anything big, you will be silent, and usurper heroes like Cao Pi and Sima Shi will laugh at him in the open living person.Everyone was terrified and did not dare to respond, and looked at each other in blank dismay.Huan Wen got up from his pillow and said loudly: "A man should not be famous forever, but should be infamous for thousands of years!" From this, it can be seen that his heroic heart is no longer restrained.

Huanwen, a martial artist, always wanted to gain prestige with his military exploits. He had been thinking about going north to win another big battle, and then returning to Jiangdong to seize the Sima family's throne with peace of mind.But man is not as good as heaven. The situation on the battlefield changes suddenly, and victory or defeat depends on breathing. You can't win a battle just because you want to win a battle. The right time, place and people are indispensable. At that time, the situation in the Central Plains was not optimistic about the Jin Dynasty.After several times of tug-of-war in Xuchang, Qianyan and Eastern Jin finally lost this important town.During the Xingning period, the Huaiyang area also fell.In the end, the Luoyang city guard saw that the isolated city was difficult to defend, so he found an excuse to lead his troops to escape, leaving only Shen Jin alone with 500 people to defend the city. (As explained in the article "The Wind Blows Duckweed in the South of the Yangtze River", Shen Jin is the son of Wang Dun's "rebel against the party" Shen Chong. He has always wanted to die for the country to restore the family's reputation. He is waiting for this "glorious" opportunity.) AD 365 In 2009, the brothers Murong Ke and Murong Chui, the famous generals of the former Yan Dynasty, led their troops to attack. Luoyang naturally couldn't hold on, and Shen Jin died.Soon, Lu County, Gaoping, and Wancheng were captured by the former Yan army one after another. The Yan army even plundered the area north of the Han River and plundered away.

In the third year of Haixi Gongtaihe (368), the Jin court added Sima Huan Wen Shuli, who was above the princes and kings.In May of the following year, Huan Wen led the governors of Xuzhou and Yanzhou himself, led 50,000 riders, and set off from Gushu for his third northern expedition. In July, Huan Wen traveled to Jinxiang. Due to the drought and the water shortage, he ordered his general Mao Husheng to send people to dig a river channel for 300 miles in Juye to divert Wenshui and Qingshui to meet. hundred miles. Xi Chao, the most important counselor under Huan Wen, offered advice, saying: "Clear water flows into the river, and it is difficult to transport it. If the enemy persists and does not fight, and the luck is cut off, then they will be in danger. We should lead the whole army to go directly to Yecheng. Xianbei enemy Fearing the prestige of the Duke of Ming, they must flee to the land of Liaojie. If they dare to fight our army in close quarters, they will win or lose immediately. If the Yan army can't hold on, the people around will be used by our army. Yishui Enan is within our grasp."

Huan Wen shook his head.Huan Wen thought it was too rash to decide the outcome in one battle, so he didn't dare to try. Xi Chao offered another suggestion: "We can also station troops in the area of ​​the Yellow River and Jishui to control water transportation, and wait for the funds to be fully stored before entering the army next summer." Huan Wen shook his head again.He is afraid that after a long time, the Yan army will be well prepared everywhere, and the division will be in vain. Xi Chao was also very worried: "Without these two strategies, the company's army will go north, and the advance cannot be made quickly, and the retreat will be blocked. If Xianbei and our army do not fight each other, in autumn and winter, the river for transporting military supplies will freeze, and logistics will be difficult to guarantee. And , the northern land is cold early, and our soldiers don’t have thick fur and brown clothes, so hunger and cold will inevitably come.”

For some reason, Huan Wen, who has always been far-sighted, did not accept Xi Chao's suggestions. Huan Wen continued to go north, and all battles were victorious. In the battle of Hulu (now Yutai, Shandong), Yan general Murong Zhong was captured; In the First World War (now Xinzheng, Henan), he defeated Yan general Fu Yan.Soon, Gaoping prefect of Yan State surrendered to the Jin army. In August, Huan Wen stationed an army in Wuyang (now Shenxian County, Shandong Province). Due to the local people's uprising, Huan Wen soon arrived at Fangtou (now Junxian County, Henan Province).The former Lord of Yan, Murong NFDAA, and Taifu Murong Ping were so frightened that they discussed fleeing to Helong (now Chaoyang, Liaoning), the former capital of Yan, to avoid Huanwen's army.

When Qianyan was panicking, Murong Chui, King of Wu, volunteered and said: "Please order my ministers to lead the people to attack them. If they are defeated, it is not too late to go." Murong NFDAA can also make a decisive decision. With Murong Chui as the governor of the south, he led 50,000 troops to resist the Jin army.At the same time, Qianyan sent envoys to Qianqin to ask for help, and promised to give Qianqin the land west of Hulao as a reward. At this time, in the former Qin Dynasty, Fu Jian's generation, Fu Sheng, established himself as the emperor. He invited Wang Meng and other ministers to the court to discuss countermeasures.Most of the former Qin ministers said: "In the past, Huan Wen attacked us, and the country of Yan did not save; now Huan Wen attacks Yan, and we also stand idly by."

Wang Meng had a long-term plan. He secretly advised Fu Jian, saying: "Although Yan is strong, it is far from Huan Wen's opponent. Once Huan Wen enters the Luoyang area, collects soldiers from Youzhou and Jizhou, and takes grain and millet from Bingzhou and Yuzhou, he will definitely come back again." We are in the process of attacking key points, and then we will lose our momentum. Therefore, it is better to join forces with Yan State now to reject Huan Wen. Huan Wen is defeated, and Yan State will also lose its strength. Then we will take the opportunity to plan it!" Fu Jian obeyed Wang Meng's words and sent 20,000 troops to support Qianyan.

Huan Wen waited and waited and waited and waited, delaying the great opportunity. Everything was as Xi Chao expected-the previously dug waterway (Huan Gongdu) had dropped due to the drought and the water level could no longer be transported by this waterway.Jin general Yuan Zhen failed to open Shimen (Biankou) as scheduled, and this waterway was also cut off.In the tenth month, Yan general Li Kui led his troops to cut off the Huanwen land grain road. At this point, the entire battle began to tilt towards the Yan army. Yan general Murong Zhou led a thousand cavalry to meet the Jin army. He said to his subordinates: "The Jin people are light-hearted, timid to trap the enemy, and brave to retreat. They should first pretend to be defeated to lure them to attack."

Sure enough, more than two hundred Yan army cavalry came to challenge, and after fighting for a while, they pretended to be defeated and fled.The Jin army chased after them fiercely, and they were caught in an ambush by Murong Zhou. They lost thousands of troops in the first battle, and "soldiers seized their strength". Successively, Huan Wen's army was defeated, and the grain storage was not available. He heard that the reinforcements from the former Qin Dynasty were coming again. In desperation, he had no choice but to order the boats to be burned, all the supplies and armor to be abandoned, and retreat by land.

When Huan Wen left Cangyuan from Dongyan (now Jixian County, Henan Province), he did not dare to drink the river water along the way, fearing that the Yan army would be poisoned, so he often sent soldiers to dig wells for drinking.The Jin soldiers, who were tired and hungry and only had a big belly full of water, fled back in a hurry, traveling day and night, non-stop for seven hundred miles. Yan generals all geared up and volunteered to chase and kill Jin soldiers. Murong, King of Wu in the Kingdom of Yan, was wise and said: "Don't rush to chase now. Huan Wen withdraws his troops in fear, and must strictly set up a reserve. Select elite soldiers to fight back against the prepared army. It is not easy to succeed. Jin soldiers are rushing day and night, and I must be glad that we did not Send troops to catch up. When they are exhausted from running and exhausted, we will attack in one fell swoop, and we will surely win a big victory."

Therefore, Murong Chui took his time and led eight thousand elite riders to follow behind the Jin army.A few days later, thinking that the Jin soldiers were exhausted, Murong Chui hurriedly ordered: "You can directly attack Huan Wen's army!" So Yan soldiers raised their reins and leaped their horses, holding sharp spears, and pursued the Jin army in Xiangyi (now Sui County, Henan).Panicked by the Jin army, they struggled to resist at first. Soon, the four thousand ambush soldiers of Fanyang King Murongde of the Yan Kingdom who had returned to Dongjian in Xiangyi suddenly rose up, screaming and killing them. The two sides attacked and defeated the Jin army. More than ten thousand levels.Fleeing to Qiaojun, Huanwen's army was intercepted by Yan general Gouchi again, and lost tens of thousands of horses. In fact, long before Huan Wen's failure, in the dialogue between the two ministers of the former Qin Dynasty, some people had already predicted the future outcome.Fengfu, the former prince of the Qin Dynasty, asked another minister Shen Yin: "Huanwen's scholars have been forced to rectify and advance with the current. Now the army is patrolling the high bank, and the soldiers are not fighting. What will happen?" Shen Yin replied: "From Huanwen The current momentum seems to be promising. But from my point of view, he will definitely not succeed. Because the royal family of the Jin Dynasty was weak and Huan Wen ruled the country, the courtiers of the Jin court may not agree with him. Therefore, Huan Wen's victory is because Jin officials do not want to see As a result, they will definitely do everything possible to obstruct it. At the same time, Huan Wen is arrogant and relying on the crowd, timid to adapt to the situation, and goes deep with a large army. The army is short of food, and the morale of the army is broken, and it will definitely be defeated without a fight." Shen Yin's words almost 100% predicted the battle of Fangtou.Therefore, half-hearted disunity among the internal forces is the most critical factor for the failure of the Eastern Jin Dynasty officials to win the Northern Expedition. In November, Huan Wen collected scattered soldiers and stationed troops in Shanyang (now Huai'an, Jiangsu Province), so that he could catch his breath for a while.The Northern Expedition ended in Huanwen's complete failure. The army returned after being defeated, but the Jin emperor still sent people to Shanyang to reward the army with cattle and wine, and sent Sima Yu, the king of Kuaiji, to meet Huan Wen on the way.Misfortunes never come singly, and Huan Wen's wife, Princess Nankang, also died of illness soon. Huan Wen was extremely depressed, deeply ashamed of Fangtou's defeat.At the same time, he sent the people to build Guangling City, and led his army to move to the city.Due to the repeated military service and the epidemic of the plague, the people were in hardship, and nearly half of the dead died. For a while, Huanwen's prestige gradually weakened.