Chapter 18 The Second Jin-Chu War: The Battle of Bi

After negotiating the terms of the peace agreement with the envoy of King Zhuang of Chu, Father Xun Lin finally relaxed for two days.Since he left Jiangdu two months ago, he has had an ominous feeling about this expedition, and what happened along the way made him even more depressed, and even regretted that he should not have taken over as the so-called marshal of the Chinese army. On the surface, he led the most powerful army in the world, but in fact he was just a mob.He is like an old man with a white beard, driving a group of disobedient ducks to the Yellow River, his ears are full of "quack" calls, and he accidentally finds that a duck has disappeared, and he has to drive carefully. Lead the rest of the ducks to find that duck... If he hadn't had a nightmare, he must have been a duck commander in his previous life.

The most hateful thing is that guy named Xiangu, relying on the remaining prestige of his ancestors, he didn't pay attention to him as the marshal of the Chinese army at all. He acted so boldly that he dared to disobey orders and act without authorization, dragging the entire army to the brink of war.He didn't even think about it, how could he face Chu's tiger and wolf master with such a mess?Fortunately, that king of Chu seemed to be a reasonable person, otherwise, once the war broke out, his father Xun Lin's famous name would probably be ruined. Just as Xun Lin's father narrowed his eyes slightly and was about to take a nap, there was a commotion outside the tent of the Chinese army, and a guard rushed in to report: "The Chu army is attacking!"

Xun Lin's father was calm on the surface, but he was taken aback in his heart, and quickly asked, "How many chariots? How many pawns?" "This... one chariot, three generals, and the leader seems to be Chu's General Le Bo." "Oh?" Father Xun Lin fell into deep thought. It is true that there were only three people in one car who came to attack the Jin army. The leader was Le Bo, the fierce general of King Zhuang of Chu, Xu Bo was driving the car, and She Shu was the guard. During the Spring and Autumn Period, when various countries fought wars, there was still some ancient style from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In every battle, the warriors were dispatched to challenge on bicycles and attack the enemy's formation, which was called "Zhishi".

King Zhuang of Chu sent people to negotiate peace with Xun Lin's father. The covenant had not yet been signed, and he sent Le Bo to teach the teacher. The intention was obvious: since the Jin army had great differences of opinion on whether to fight or not, and the generals were not united, then Just put another smoke bomb, making it impossible for them to judge the true intentions of the Chu army, and they fell into a dilemma. What needs to be explained is that "to the teacher" is a very dangerous task.On the way to the Jin camp, Xu Bo said: "I heard that when the teacher was sent to the division, the driver would pass by the enemy's position like the wind. Come back." Xu Bo was driving, and it can be seen from this sentence that he has set very high demands on himself.

Le Bo nodded, and said unambiguously, "I heard that the person standing on the left side of the chariot will shoot the enemy with a long arrow, and then take the reins of the horse instead of the coachman. , and then get back in the chariot.” As the chief general, Loeb was responsible for drawing the bow and shooting at the enemy, and at the same time asked the small team of three to maintain an elegant posture. Neatly organized - this kind of unruffled samurai style is called bushido in Japan and chivalry in Europe, but in China, since the Qin Dynasty "unified" China, it seems to have gradually become scarce.

After listening to Uncle She, he also raised a standard for himself: "I heard that the person standing on the right side of the chariot when he was sent to the teacher will jump into the enemy's camp, kill the enemy, cut off his ears, and return after capturing the prisoners." Uncle served as the guard, also known as "Che You", and the goals he set for himself were not low. The three of them arrived in front of the Jin army while talking.Uncle Xu rode fast, and his chariot galloped into the formation of the Jin army; Bo Le fired several arrows in a row, but none of them missed; the most outstanding performance was Uncle She, who jumped out of the chariot like a ghost, slashed several people, and then threw his fists. Knock out a soldier who is already scared to death, and jump back to the car with him in his arms.After finishing all this, Uncle Xu handed over the reins to Uncle Le, got out of the carriage and calmly arranged the accessories on the horse.

When the Jin army reacted, they had already rushed out of the camp and galloped in the direction of Chu camp.Jin general Bao Gui led dozens of chariots and divided his troops into three groups to pursue Le Bo.Le Bo bent his bow and set up an arrow, shot at the horse from the left and the man from the right, and the arrows were all in vain, causing the pursuers on the left and right to become chaotic, only Bao Gui's men in the middle still pursued closely. Le Bo wanted to shoot Bao Gui, but he reached out his hand to touch the quiver, but there was only one arrow left.There happened to be a group of elk in front of them, startled by the sudden noise, and tried to flee.As soon as Le Bo thought about it, at the sound of the bowstring, a long arrow was firmly nailed to the back of a deer.

Le Bo asked Uncle She to get out of the car, and held the dead deer in front of Bao Gui's car.A murmur filled Bao Gui's mind, and he was thinking about what tricks the Nanman was playing, when he heard Uncle She laughing and saying, "Because the season is not here, the animal that should be sacrificed has not come, so I have to sacrifice it to your left and right as meals. " According to the rituals of the week, when offering prey to humans, different species should be offered according to different seasons.It was June, and it was too early to offer elk, so Uncle She said this.

Bao Gui didn't know that this was Le Bo's last arrow, he thought to himself, this is clearly a warning to me, if I continue to chase, the next arrow will be shot at me.At the same time, he sighed, even a mere guard knew the customs of the Zhou Dynasty clearly, and his eloquence was eloquent, neither arrogant nor humble, who would dare to say that the Nanman was uneducated and did not understand etiquette? Bao Gui ordered people to accept the gift from Uncle She, and said to the left and right: "The Chu general on the left side of the chariot is good at archery, and the guard on the right side of the chariot is good at eloquence. These are gentlemen!" .

Lobo's challenge caused commotion in the Jin camp, and it also gave Xiangu and other "main fighters" an excellent reason. They gathered in the camp of the Chinese army and pressed the commander Xun Lin's father: "Chu people are stepping on our heads." Now, do you still want to be a turtle? Zhao Kuo drew out his saber and slashed at the desk viciously, saying: "Even if we die in battle, we cannot bear such humiliation." Speaking of Xun Lin's father's tent, it is really a mixed bag, there are all kinds of people.Among them was Wei Qi (qi), who was the grandson of Wei Ji, the tiger general of Duke Wen of Jin.In order to consolidate the power of the public office, Duke Cheng of Jin appointed a group of nobles with different surnames as officials of the public family. Wei Qi thought that he was very promising, but who knew that he was not on the list, so he always held a grudge, and he only wanted the Jin army to lose the battle. .At that time, when he heard what Zhao Kuo said, he stood up and challenged Xun Lin's father, saying: "It is not indecent to come and not to go. Since the general of Chu dares to come to teach teachers, our army cannot show weakness. Please send me to teach teachers." !"

Before the words fell, another man named Zhao Zhan stood up and said, "If General Wei goes to send a letter to the teacher, I would like to be an envoy to the Chu camp to issue a letter of war." One of the chief and deputy marshals of the three armies, but he didn't even become a doctor of the three armies, so he was also dissatisfied, and he was afraid that the world would not be chaotic. Xun Lin's father was disturbed, and after discussing with the Scholars Association for a while, he decided to agree with Wei Kai and Zhao Zhan to go to the Chu camp, but the task changed: Wei Kai's task was to condemn the Chu army for breaking their promises, and Zhao Zhan It is to invite Chuzhuang King to hold the alliance as scheduled. Wei Qi and Zhao Zhan accepted the order.Seeing these two men driving away in high spirits, the deputy commander of the Shangjun Ke smiled bitterly: "Two disgruntled people have gone. If we don't take adequate precautions, we will definitely lose." Xiangu kicked the small stones on the side of the road, and said coldly: "The people of Zheng State advised us to fight, but we dare not fight; the people of Chu State begged us for peace, but in the end they couldn't. use it?" The scholar association persuaded: "It is still necessary to strengthen our defenses. If these two people anger the Chu people, and the Chu people take the opportunity to attack us, we will be in danger. If we are prepared, we will be safe. If the Chu people give up their hostility and come It will not be too late to lift our guard; if the Chu people come with hostility, we will be prepared and we will not be defeated." Xiangu said impatiently, "That's not necessary." The Scholars Association did not want to fight this battle, but when the enemy was approaching, he strongly advocated strengthening defenses, showing a responsible attitude.Xiangu really wanted to fight this battle, but because he was not happy, he put aside even the most basic military knowledge. In his heart, he was probably the same as Wei Qi and Zhao Zhan, wishing that the Jin army would fail so that he could wait to see Xun Father Lin's joke. The more the scholars thought about it, the more worried they became. They sent two generals, Gong Shuo and Han Chuan, to set up an ambush in front of Aoshan.Zhao Ying, a doctor in the Chinese army, also felt that the situation was not optimistic, so he sent people to prepare ships by the Yellow River first.Both Scholars Association and Zhao Ying are smart people, the difference is that Scholars Association considers the overall situation, while Zhao Ying only cares about his own survival. Wei Kai was ordered to come to Chuying. When he saw King Zhuang of Chu, he didn't salute, so he said carelessly: "Marshal Xun sent me to tell you, get your swords ready and see you on the battlefield!" Then he turned and left.Chu general Pan Dang was annoyed by his unreasonable attitude, took a dozen chariots, and chased him all the way to Yingze (the name of the lake).There happened to be six elk grazing by the lake. Wei Qi had a thought, and shot one of the elk to death. He ordered his men to dedicate it to Pan Dang, and said: "You have a military, and the orcs may not be able to provide you with fresh game in time. I would like to dedicate this deer to your subordinates." The so-called orcs are officials in charge of hunting.Le Bo presented a deer to Bao Gui, and Wei Qi presented a deer to Pan Dang, not to say that they were dedicated to himself, but to his subordinates. Only dare to offer it to the servants. Pan Dang accepted the deer and said to his subordinates: "He is Xue Lebo. Are we not as polite as Jin people?" So he gave up chasing it.People of that era had a kind of chivalry in their bones, and even a warrior was very gentlemanly. Compared with Wei Kai's recklessness, Zhao Zhan's behavior is more crazy.He brought dozens of his subordinates to the camp gate of the Chu army at night, spread out a mat, sat on the mat and drank all night, and then ordered his subordinates to sneak into the Chu camp. It can be seen from this that there are actually loopholes in the defense of the Chu army. As mentioned earlier, the King of Chu's personal soldiers are divided into the left and right sides, each with 30 chariots.From dawn to noon, You Guang served as the guard; from noon to dusk, Zuo Guang served as the guard.King Zhuang of Chu rode in the right wide military chariot, driven by Xu Yan, guarded by the archer Yang Youji; rode on the left wide military chariot, driven by Peng Ming, and guarded by Qu Dang.It was not until the next morning that the Chu army discovered that the Jin army had mixed into the camp.King Zhuang of Chu was very angry and personally led Zuo Guang to pursue Zhao Zhan. Zhao Zhan fled to the front of a forest, abandoned his car and ran into the forest.Qu Dang also jumped out of the car and followed behind.Zhao Zhanjiu also woke up, knowing that he couldn't fight against Qudang, he simply made a golden cicada out of its shell, took off his armor, and ran desperately into the depths of the woods.Qu Dang couldn't catch up, so he had to take his armor and go back to the king of Chuzhuang. At this time, Xun Lin's father also felt that something was wrong, and sent heavy vehicles out of the camp to meet Wei Qi and Zhao Zhan.Pan Dang saw the dust raised by the Jin army convoy from a distance, and quickly sent someone to report: "The Jin army is dispatched!" Sun Shuao was afraid that the king of Chuzhuang would rush into the Jin army, so he ordered the whole army out of the camp and lined up, saying: "Advance! It is better for our army to persecute the enemy than for the enemy to persecute us. It is said in the poem, 'Ten chariots with ten chariots, the first to break the formation' , It is said in the book of war, 'One step ahead can win the enemy's fighting spirit', the whole army advances!" This is the beginning of this major battle known as the "Battle of Bi" in history.Under Sun Shu'ao's command, the Chu army charged at the Jin army with speeding chariots and galloping infantry. The old man Xun Lin's father was completely confused by the Chu army's offensive.Since leaving the army, the Jin army has had many internal contradictions, and its command has not been very effective. Now facing the full-scale attack of the Chu people, it has become a mess.Seeing that the general situation was over, Xun Lin's father beat the big drum in the middle army and announced: "Retreat, the first to cross the river will be rewarded!" This is probably the most ridiculous military order in history.According to common sense, even if you want to retreat, you must be methodical in order to preserve your strength to the maximum extent.After Xun Lin's father gave this order, Jin's middle and lower troops ran to the Yellow River without their lives, and began to compete for the boats to cross the river.All of a sudden, ghosts and wolves were howling on the banks of the Yellow River. The soldiers who boarded the boat first were eager to sail, but the people behind were holding on tightly. Often the boat was full and could not move, so someone drew a knife and chopped off the hands holding on to the side of the boat. , Not long after, there were so many severed fingers in the boat that you could hold them in your hands. This situation is really unbelievable, this turned out to be the Jin army that once dominated the Central Plains for decades. Of course, at this critical moment, there were also people who maintained the dignity of the overlord country, and that was the upper army led by the Scholars Association.Due to their long-term preparations, the Chu people have not been able to break through the defense line of the Shihui, especially the seven-way ambush in front of Aoshan, which dealt a big blow to the Chu people. King Zhuang of Chu quickly adjusted his deployment, and ordered Gong Yin (Chu official name) Qi to lead a phalanx as the right army, chasing the lower army of Jin; he ordered his vassal Tang army to be the left army, attacking the upper army of Jin.In order to strengthen the offensive on the left, Pan Dang was ordered to lead 40 soldiers to join in, intending to wipe out the upper army of the Jin State in one fell swoop. Chauk asked the Scholars Association: "Should we hold our ground?" The soldiers will say: "The Chu army is now full of fighting spirit. If we concentrate our forces on attacking our army, our army will be wiped out. It is better to retreat and leave the battlefield. We did not retreat with the middle and lower troops. We no longer need to bear the responsibility of running away. It also saved the lives of the soldiers, so that’s okay!” So ​​he personally moved to the rear and ordered the army to retreat in an orderly manner, maintaining an invincible momentum. During the battle, there were many tidbits, which were recorded one by one by the historian. Under the escort of Zuo Guang, King Zhuang of Chu went to the front line to command the battle, but met You Guang who came to escort him.King Zhuang of Chu wanted to change to You Guang's chariot, but Qu Dang jumped out of the chariot, stopped the horse and said, "Since your majesty started the battle on Zuo Guang, you must end the battle on Zuo Guang!" I was moved, so I didn't change the chariot, and since then, the order of duty in Guangdong and Guangxi has been changed, and Zuoguang's chariot will be taken first. As the battle drew to a close, one or two Jin soldiers fell into a pit and could not move.It happened that soldiers from the state of Chu passed by, and the people of the state of Chu taught them to remove the crossbar in front of the cart, so they were able to get out of trouble.But after walking a few steps, the horses didn't listen to their commands and lingered. The people of Chu State taught them to unplug the flag and throw away the yoke of the chariot before they escaped completely.The people of Chu State did this because King Zhuang of Chu ordered that the war had been completely won, and there was no need to hunt down and kill the remnants of the Jin State.But the Jin people didn't appreciate it. After they escaped, they turned around and laughed and said, "Oh, we are really not as experienced as your army's escape experience!" Zhao Zhan, who went to the camp of the Chu army and drank all night, had a lot of family affection. After fleeing back to the army, he gave up two good horses to his brother and uncle, and found another carriage to escape. A small unit of the Chu army abandoned the car and entered the forest for the second time.When he got out of the woods, he happened to see the doctor Feng Shi and his two sons passing by in the same carriage, so he shouted for help.Dr. Feng was not a fuel-efficient lamp, so he said to his two sons: "Don't look back, pretend you didn't see it!" old man?" Doctor Feng had no choice but to stop the car and let Zhao Zhan get in the car.Zhao Zhan grew fat. As soon as he got into the car, the two sons of Feng's family had to walk, but they were overtaken by the Chu people and both died in battle. Xun Yu (ying), the son of Xunshou, a senior official in the Jin State, was captured by Chu general Xiong Lingji.Xun Shou said: "I can't even keep my own son, how can I have the face to go back to China?" So he led his subordinates back to the battlefield to look for his son.Wei Kai has always had a good relationship with Xunshou, so he took the initiative to drive for him.The soldiers in the army were moved by his heroism, and many people followed him.Xun Shou held a big bow and shot when he saw the Chu army, but he had to look at the arrow every time he drew it. If it was a good arrow, he would insert it into Wei Qi's quiver.Wei Kai scolded: "Instead of saving your son, you cherish the willows instead. Can Dong Ze run out of willows?" Pu Liu is the material for making arrow stems, and Dong Ze in Jin State was the place where Pu Liu was produced at that time.Xun Shou replied: "If I don't get someone else's son, how can I save my son? I can't just use up these good arrows!" He happened to see the son of King Zhuang of Chu, the son Gu Chen and the old general Xiang of Chu, cleaning up. On the battlefield, Lianzhu arrows shot over, killing the old man Xiang and wounding the young master Guchen. Xun Shou captured his son, Guchen, and loaded the body of Lao Xiang on the cart, saying: "With these two treasures, are you still worried that my son will not come back?" The Jin army collapsed in the early morning, and until dusk, when the Chu army set up camp in Bidi, the sound of the Jin army crossing the river could still be heard. The next day, the convoy of the Chu army arrived at Bi, and the Chu army advanced to Hengyong.The Chu army was immersed in the joy of victory.Pan Dang suggested: "My lord, why don't you collect the corpses of the Jin army and build a Jingguan? I heard that such a major victory must be announced to future generations, so that they will not forget the martial arts of their ancestors." The so-called Jingguan is a pile of dead bodies piled up. In modern Chinese, it may be more appropriate to call it the Pagoda of White Bone.King Zhuang of Chu shook his head and said, "Do you know? The so-called word 'wu' refers to fighting with weapons. When King Wu of Zhou defeated the Shang Dynasty, he wrote a poem saying, "Put away your weapons and hide your bow and arrows. I pursue virtue, so Chen Yu Xia Le Among them, achieve the king's career and keep the world.' And said, 'Thus consolidate your achievements.' And said, 'Extensively spread the virtues of the previous kings and carry them forward. I started the war just to seek stability.' And said, 'Stability Ten thousand nations, every year a good harvest.' Heroic martial arts are used to prohibit violence, eliminate wars, maintain strength, consolidate foundations, stabilize the people, unite the masses, and enrich wealth, so future generations must remember it firmly." Later generations have no way of guessing what King Zhuang of Chu really thought at this moment, but when he said these words, all the officials of Chu State around him were moved by him, and some even covered their faces and wept.King Zhuang of Chu went on to say: "Today I exposed the corpses of the people of the two countries on the banks of the Yellow River. Existence, how can we talk about consolidating performance? There are many things that violate the wishes of the people, how to stabilize the people? How to unite the people without good morals and fighting with the princes? Take other people's crises as your own opportunities, and secretly rejoice in others' difficulties I think it is my own glory, so how can I enrich my wealth? There are seven virtues in martial arts, but I don’t have the same. What can I use to show off to future generations? We should first build the ancestral temple dedicated to the ancestors, and report the victory to the ancestors. The victory of the war Not to my credit." I privately thought that only the monarch of a powerful country could say such a thing.In particular, the sentence "Take other people's crisis as your own opportunity, and secretly rejoice when others are in trouble, thinking it is your own glory", can be said to be deafening, and it is enough to warn the world: If a country and its people always treat other countries' Feeling gloating and ecstatic about disasters is actually a manifestation of the weak. It is difficult for such a country to become strong. King Zhuang of Chu also said that the Ming emperors in ancient times attacked disrespectful people and captured the heinous ones to kill and bury them. What builds Jingguan?So he sacrificed to the God of the Yellow River, built the ancestral temple of Chu State on the bank of the Yellow River, held a solemn ancestor worship ceremony, and returned to the dynasty. At this point in the history reading, I sigh again: even the feudal monarch King Zhuang of Chu knew how to respect the enemy soldiers who were loyal to the country and treat his martial arts in a low-key manner. Why do people in later generations feel no pain at all when they shoot those civil war-themed movies? Woolen cloth? Regarding the Battle of Bi, there is another tidbit that has not been recorded in the official history, but it has always been talked about by people.According to legend, after King Zhuang of Chu defeated Doujiao, he held a celebration banquet, feasted his ministers, and ordered his concubine Xu Ji to toast everyone. Suddenly, a strange wind blew out all the candles.It was estimated that someone was drunk, and took advantage of the darkness to hold Xu Ji in his arms.Xu Ji was quick, and while breaking free, she took off the red tassel from the man's hat.Xu Ji groped her way to the King of Chu Zhuang, told the King of Chu Zhuang about the matter in a low voice, and said, order someone to light the candles to see who is the boldest woman who dared to touch the King.After hearing this, King Zhuang of Chu ordered his servants loudly: "Don't light the lamp yet! I will drink with all the ministers today, and I will not stop getting drunk. Please take off the tassels of the hats before talking." So everyone took off the tassels of their hats and continued to drink.When the servants lit the candles again, everyone in the hall was wearing tasselless hats, so naturally they didn't know who was molesting Xu Ji.During the Battle of Bi, King Zhuang of Chu came to the battlefield in person and found that a junior officer was extremely brave in killing the enemy.After the war, King Zhuang of Chu wanted to reward the junior officer, but he refused.This man told King Zhuang of Chu that he was the one who molested Xu Ji back then. In order to repay the king's generosity, he would have no regrets even if he died in battle. This story has a name in Peking Opera, called "The Meeting of Jueying".As for whether it is true, there is no way to verify it.Maybe people think that King Zhuang of Chu is a wise king with achievements, so they made up this story to reflect his generosity. As for the old man with the white beard who drove the duck to the battlefield, his ending was not bad.Because he lost the battle, he asked Jin Jinggong to apologize with death.Jin Jinggong originally wanted to agree to his request, but the scholars would advise him: "You can't let him die. In the battle of Chengpu, our army won a complete victory and ate the food of the Chu army for three days. But he still had a worried look on his face, and said, "Cheng Dechen is not dead yet, Jin's troubles are not over yet, and the trapped beasts are still fighting, let alone Ling Yin of Chu State?" He can't hurt me anymore!" The Chu army lost on the battlefield and hurt itself as a general. It can be said that it has been defeated again and again. It has not dared to compete with Jin for decades. Today's failure may be a warning to Jin. China, if we kill Father Xun Lin again, we will lose again and again, and I am afraid that we will not be able to compete with Chu for a long time. Father Xun Lin serves you, if you advance, you will be loyal, if you retreat, you will think about your mistakes, and you will defend the country and the country Why do you want him to die? Besides, his failure this time is like a solar eclipse, what effect will it have on the brilliance of the sun and the moon?" The so-called sun and moon, of course, refers to Jin Jinggong.He chewed on the words of the generals and soldiers association several times, and finally figured it out, so he pardoned Xun Lin's father and still let him serve as the marshal of the Chinese army.