More than half of the four years of Taihe in Dajin Dynasty have passed, and countless things, big and small, happened in Dajin during this year.
For example, there was a severe drought in Sanwu. For example, there was an earthquake in southwest China. For example, a flying fish with two wings was discovered in Nanhai County, which was as big as a heavy building. For example, a woman in Xiping County gave birth to a two-headed man.
Another example is that Xie An, the head of the Xie family in Chen County, came to worship as a servant. All the famous people in the world were happy and thought that the revitalization of the Jin Dynasty was expected.
However, the most concerning thing that happened this year was not these things, but another earth-shattering event. That was the Great Sima of the Jin Dynasty, the commander-in-chief of all Chinese and foreign military forces, the leader of Yangzhou Mu, and the governor of Xu Yanzhou.
The Third Northern Expedition of Huan Wen, the powerful minister of the Jin Dynasty.
In April of this year, Huan Da Sima raised 50,000 troops from Gushu to start the Northern Expedition to Qian Yan. The imperial court ordered Yuzhou Governor Yuan Zhen to lead 20,000 troops from Shouchun to coordinate the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition, which started in April, has been going on for nearly five months.
Since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty had been unwilling to allow the Five Barbarians to invade their homeland in the Central Plains of the North, and the Northern Expedition had been continuous. First, there were Zu Ti, and then Yu Liang, Yin Hao and others successively launched the Northern Expedition, but all ended in failure.
There was only one person who launched several Northern Expeditions after Yin Hao, achieved numerous military successes and greatly enhanced the power of the Jin Dynasty. That was Huan Wen.
The Northern Expedition in April this year was Huan Da Sima’s third Northern Expedition. As early as fifteen years ago in the 10th year of Yonghe, Huan Wen, then General Anxi, began his first Northern Expedition. That time, he led
The army attacked Bashang, which was occupied by the Di tribe, one of the Five Hus, and was stationed outside Chang'an City.
The Di people's pre-Qin regime was on the verge of collapse, and the nobles in the city fled one after another. The local people ate pots of wine to welcome the king's army, hoping that Huan Wen could capture Chang'an in one fell swoop and restore his old capital. But at the last moment, he chose to stop the attack and return to the court.
No one knows why, but Huan Wen's memorial said that it was because the army was short of rations at the time and the Qin people had to fortify the walls and clear the country, making it difficult to obtain supplies. Therefore, they pressed forward and waited for the surrounding wheat to mature and harvest before the rations were sufficient before attacking. As a result, the Qin people planned to organize their troops and horses.
surrounded and counterattacked, so they had to retreat.
However, only Huan Wen himself knows the real reason. Perhaps, there is another person who also knows, and that person's name is Wang Meng.
When he was garrisoning on the outskirts of Chang'an and looking at Chang'an across the Ba River, Huan Wen met a local celebrity named Wang Meng. Huan Wen asked Wang Meng: "I led one hundred thousand soldiers to fight against rebellion, why are only the common people here to welcome me?
None of the heroes and celebrities came to see me?"
Wang Meng gave Huan Wen a frank answer: "The general came thousands of miles away and arrived at Chang'an, but he was within a stone's throw of Chang'an, but he couldn't get in. The common people didn't understand, but the heroes understood that the general had no intention of attacking Chang'an, so they didn't
Come see you."
Huan Wen did not ask any more questions because he knew that this young man named Wang Meng already knew what he was thinking. Of course he could not attack Chang'an. Chang'an was the capital of the Qin Kingdom established by the Di people, and their elite soldiers and horses were all in the city. He
What do you get by attacking Chang'an? If you win, it's just a city. If you lose, you will follow in the footsteps of ancestor Ti Yin Hao and others and become sinners.
His Northern Expedition was not to restore his old capital, but to demonstrate his abilities to the Jin Dynasty in the southeast, and to increase his reputation and strength through the Northern Expedition. If there were not many soldiers and horses in Chang'an City, he could conquer it in one fell swoop.
Naturally, he took action without hesitation. But in order to capture Chang'an in front of him, a huge price must be paid.
Of course, Huan Wen was not willing to fight the Qin people to death. He wanted to preserve his strength and plan for the future. His troops and horses were all foreign troops and his own. Losing too many troops and horses in the attack on Chang'an was an act that outweighed the gains.
In the twelfth year of Yonghe, Huan Wen launched his second Northern Expedition. He defeated the Qiang leader Yao Xiang and conquered the real hometown of Luoyang. He also visited the late emperor's imperial mausoleum. It can be said that he was majestic and his reputation increased sharply. Although he soon became
Abandoning Luoyang and retreating to China, the majority of his recovered apprentices were quickly lost, but Huan Wen's goal was achieved.
After the Second Northern Expedition, Sima Huan's reputation and strength reached their peak, and he became the mainstay of the Jin Dynasty, and took control of the military and political power of the court. After the Jin Dynasty moved south, it was controlled by the Langya Wang family and the Yingchuan Yu family.
The structure of the Jin Dynasty was broken. It was replaced by Long Kanghuan.
After nearly ten years of operation, the Huan family controlled the military and political power of the two major towns on the left side of the Yangtze River in Jingyang. Controlling the two states of Jingyang was equivalent to basically controlling the lifeline of the Jin Dynasty. Yangzhou was the center, and the capital was built
The place where Kang is located. Jingzhou is located in the upper reaches of Yangzhou, and its strategic position is conducive to traveling down the river to Beijing.
If there hadn't been Yuzhou as a buffer between the two states, and if there hadn't been a considerable number of soldiers and horses in the capital, Huan would have been able to do whatever he wanted.
At this moment, Huan Wen's army, which had gone through the Northern Expedition for nearly five months, was facing the biggest crisis since it sent troops.
As the sun sets, ninety miles south of Yecheng, the capital of the Yan State, a large number of soldiers and horses are crowded on the Yellow River ferry called Fangtou. On the Yellow River, a large number of ships gather on the river, and the sails are raised like those on the river.
Like a dark cloud covering it.
This is where the main force of Huan Wen's Northern Expedition army is stationed. It is less than a hundred miles away from the capital of Yan State established by the Murong clan of the Xianbei tribe. However, Huan Da Sima's army is now not allowed to enter because of the road leading to Ye City.
The road has been cut off, and Yan State's 50,000 soldiers and horses are marching south, led by General Murong Chui, in a fight to the death, blocking the front.
Huan Wen's army marched north from Gu's school along the waterway in April this year. The advantage of attacking by waterway is that the soldiers and horses can attack quickly, and the waterway serves as a logistics support channel for food and supplies, which is convenient and fast.
They did achieve great success at the beginning. On their way north, they won the first battle at Hulu, conquered Hulu, and captured alive the Yan Kingdom's defender Ningdong General Murong Zhong. In July, they encountered the Yan Kingdom's conquest at Huangxu
The main force of the Yan State, led by Governor Murong Li, blocked the attack with more than 20,000 troops. The two sides fought and the Jin army won a complete victory. Murong Li escaped alone.
Murong Wei, the leader of the Yan Kingdom, urgently ordered his brother Murong Zang, king of Le'an, to lead an army to stop the attack, but they could not resist the Jin army's overwhelming momentum. The Great Sima Huanwen's Northern Expedition army was unstoppable, attacking all the way. The Yan Kingdom's places along the way
Officials surrendered one after another, and soldiers and civilians came out of the city to welcome him.
In August, Sun Yuan, the governor of Yanzhou, raised troops to respond to the Northern Expeditionary Army, which enabled the Northern Expeditionary Army to reach Fangtou Ferry, ninety miles south of Yecheng, the capital of Yan State, without a single soldier.
Originally, this was a great situation and opportunity to attack Yecheng in one go, capture the capital of Yan State and destroy the Xianbei people. But this time, Great Sima Huanwen did not think about preserving his strength like the previous Northern Expeditions. This time his
He was strong enough. Taking Yecheng and destroying the Yan Kingdom would be the pinnacle moment of his life. So he had no intention of holding back.
But the army encountered a thorny problem, that is, although the distance from Fangtou to Yecheng is not far, there is no waterway. Along the way, the Northern Expedition army relied on waterways to rush here. Now it is necessary to
Attacked Yecheng by land.
It doesn't matter if the water route should be used for the land attack. After all, it is just a different way of marching. But the problem is that the water route was originally relied on to transport supplies conveniently, so it was possible to launch a long-distance and violent attack so quickly. If it were changed to a land march,
The first solution is to stock up on supplies and military supplies for the next attack on Yecheng. Sufficient supplies and supplies must be prepared.
So the Northern Expedition army had to stop here to hoard a large amount of food supplies and prepare for the attack. But this pause gave Yan a chance to breathe.
Murong Zang's army was weak, but the Xianbei people were not unmanned. When the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Jin Dynasty arrived at Fangtou and approached Yecheng with the power of a winning streak, the leader of the Yan State, Murong Wei, and the noble ministers panicked. Taifu Murong
The great ministers of Pinghe, Murong Chong and Murong Wei, had already begun to discuss abandoning Yecheng and returning to Huanglong City, the old capital of the Xianbei people. At this time, a man stood up and asked to lead the army to fight.