Chapter 34 125 Xie An's comeback

In August 383 AD, Fu Jian personally led an army of 870,000 troops from Chang'an.On the main road to the south, smoke and dust billowed, infantry, cavalry, plus vehicles, horses, and luggage, the team was mighty, stretching almost a thousand miles. A month later, the main force of Fu Jian arrived at Xiangcheng (in the south of Shenqiu, Henan Province today), the navy from Yizhou also went down the river to the east, and the troops from the north of the Yellow River also arrived in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province). On the more than 10,000-mile-long front to the west, the former Qin Dynasty marched in two directions, approaching the south of the Yangtze River.

When the news reached Jiankang, Emperor Xiaowu of Jin Dynasty and the civil and military officials in the capital panicked.The soldiers and civilians of the Jin Dynasty were unwilling to let Jiangnan fall into the hands of the former Qin Dynasty. Everyone hoped that Prime Minister Xie An would make up his mind. Xie An was born in Yangxia, Chenjun (now Taikang, Henan). He was born in a noble family. When he was young, he was a good friend with Wang Xizhi.He was very famous among the scholar-bureaucrat class at that time, and everyone thought he was a very talented person.But he would rather live in seclusion in Dongshan than be an official.Someone recommended him to be an official, and he didn't want to do it after more than a month in office.At that time, there was a saying among the scholar-bureaucrats: "If Xie An doesn't come out to be an official, what should the common people do?"

When he was in his forties, he came out to be an official again.Because Xie An lived in seclusion in Dongshan for a long time, he later came back to be an official and called it "resurrection". After Fu Jianqiang became stronger, the northern border of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was often harassed by Qin soldiers.The imperial court wanted to find a general with all talents in civil and military affairs to defend the border.Xie An recommended his nephew Xie Xuan to Emperor Xiaowu.Emperor Xiaowu appointed Xie Xuan as a general, guarding Guangling (now Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province), and taking charge of all people in Jiangbei.

Xie Xuan is also a military talent.After he arrived in Guangling, he recruited troops and expanded his armed forces.At that time, a group of people who fled from the north to the Eastern Jin Dynasty applied one after another.Among them was a native of Pengcheng named Liu Laozhi, who had practiced martial arts since he was a child, and was particularly brave in battle.Xie Xuan sent him to join the army and asked him to lead an elite force.After rigorous training by Xie Xuan and Liu Laozhi, this team has become an invincible army.Because this army is often stationed in Jingkou (now Heshi, Hesu Town), Jingkou is also called "Beifu", so it is called "Beifu Bing".

This time, Fu Jian led an army of one million to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Xie An decided to sit in Jiankang by himself, and sent his younger brother Xie Shi as the governor of the conquest, Xie Xuan as the commander of the vanguard, and led 80,000 troops to Jiangbei to fight against the Qin soldiers. Bin led five thousand sailors to Shouyang (now Shouxian, Anhui) to cooperate in the battle. Although Xie Xuan's Beifu soldiers were brave.But the military strength of the former Qin Dynasty was ten times larger than that of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie Xuan was a little nervous after all.Before leaving, Xie Xuan specially went to Xie An's house to bid farewell and ask for instructions on how to fight this battle.

Who knew that Xie An acted like nothing happened, and replied casually: "I already have arrangements." Xie Xuan thought in his heart that Xie An might have something else to say.After waiting for a long time, Xie An still didn't speak. When Xie Xuan returned home, he felt uneasy.A day later, he invited his friend Henry Zhang to visit Xie An and asked him to ask Xie An. As soon as Xie An saw Henry Zhang, he didn’t talk to him about military affairs, and immediately invited him to a villa in his mountain.When we got there, many celebrities arrived first.If Henry Zhang wanted to ask, he had no chance.

Xie An asked Henry Zhang to play Go with him, and joked with Henry Zhang, saying that he would bet on this villa to compare the winners and losers.Henry Zhang is a good chess player.When playing chess with Xie An, he always wins.However, on this day, Henry Zhang didn’t have the heart to play chess at all, and he barely managed it, and of course he lost. After playing chess, Xie An invited everyone to enjoy the mountain scenery together. After playing for a whole day, he didn't go home until dark. That night, he summoned Xie Shi, Xie Xuan and other generals to his home, and explained everyone's tasks clearly one by one.Seeing Xie An's composure, everyone strengthened their confidence and went back to the barracks happily.

At that time, Huan Chong heard that the situation was critical in Jingzhou, and specially allocated 3,000 elite soldiers to Jiankang to defend the capital.Xie An said to the sent soldiers: "I have already made arrangements here. You should go back and strengthen the defense to the west!" The soldiers returned to Jingzhou and told Huan Chong that Huan Chong was very worried.He said to the soldiers: "Grand Xie's demeanor is indeed admirable, but he doesn't know how to fight. Seeing that the enemy is approaching, he is still so leisurely: the force is so small, and some inexperienced young people are sent to command. I think we It's going to be a disaster."