Chapter 260 Chen Qingzhi's First Battle
The rebellion of Yuan Faseng, the governor of Northern Xuzhou, was quickly reported to the Northern Wei court.
Now, King Yuanyi of Jiangyang, who had always handled official business at home, had to come to the Menxia Province again to discuss with the prime minister and the ruling officials how to quell the rebellion.
At the last military meeting, it was decided to appoint Beihai Prince Yuan Hao as the General of the Western Expedition, leading 20,000 troops recruited from Bing, Ding and Jizhou into Guanzhong to assist Xiao Baoyin in suppressing the rebellion.
Now, Prince Yuan Hao of Beihai has not yet led his troops into the pass, and Xuzhou has rebelled again.
There was no wrangling in suppressing the rebellion this time. North Xuzhou was an important town on the southern defense line and a barrier to the entire Shandong region. No matter which force it was, no one could tolerate the loss of Xuzhou.
The imperial court ordered the Yanzhou governor, Anfeng King Yuan Yanming, to be the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition, and to mobilize 20,000 soldiers from Yanzhou and Qingzhou to go to Xuzhou to quell the rebellion.
The imperial edict was sent to Yanzhou at full speed. At that time, the Yanzhou governor Yuan Yanming had already received the news of Yuan Faseng's rebellion.
Yuan Yanming was an outlier among the many eccentric royal family members of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in a positive sense.
He once served as the governor of Xuzhou. When Xuzhou was hit by a flood ten years ago, Yuan Yanming used his own savings to help the victims, winning him great reputation in Xuzhou.
Yuan Yanming was well-read and talented in literature, and collected more than 10,000 volumes of books. He was honest and frugal, and did not run any business.
The local nobles in Xuzhou hated Yuan Faseng very much. When they heard the news that Yuan Faseng was plotting a rebellion, they went to Yanzhou to tell Yuan Yanming.
By the time Yuan Faseng rebelled, Yuan Yanming had already concentrated the troops in Yanzhou, ordered his general Qiu Daqian to train them, and recruited soldiers in Yanzhou, ready to send troops to Xuzhou at any time.
Yanzhou has always been a prosperous region in the Central Plains, and local tyrants are afraid of serving in the army.
Qiu Daqian initially tried to recruit soldiers from the powerful, but these powerful people were reluctant to send troops.
Qiu Daqian was also a rough man. He simply sent people with military books to go door to door to conscript men from these wealthy families.
This incident naturally aroused the resistance of the Yanzhou nobles. The two sides went to Yuan Yanming's side and finally reached a compromise.
No matter what method the wealthy families used, whether they spent money to hire people or provided their own people, they sent 5,000 able-bodied men to the army according to the military list.
In this way, Bian Ji (a debate monk who did not observe the precepts but was good at traveling) who had traveled to Yanzhou and was eating and drinking at the home of a local wealthy family was also thrown into the army.
By the time Bian Ji realized that something was wrong, he was already in the military camp and was about to march south with the army that day.
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Throughout April, the Northern Wei court was busy suppressing the rebellion.
On April 25, the army led by Prince of Beihai Yuan Hao finally entered Tongguan. The Western Expedition Commander-in-Chief Xiao Baoyin personally rushed back to Tongguan to meet Prince of Beihai Yuan Hao.
In order to prevent Yuan Hao from seizing his position as Grand Commander, Xiao Baoyin ordered Yuan Hao to lead his troops to Huazhou immediately to resist the rebels of Hu Chen and Jin Wei in the direction of Jingzhou.
Beihai Prince Yuan Hao was dissatisfied, but the court did not give him arbitrary power. Xiao Baoyin was still the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition and could only lead his tired army into Huazhou.
With someone guarding Huazhou, Xiao Baoyin finally felt relieved in the rear. He then ordered Liu Kai, who was stationed near Chencang, to immediately lead the army to attack Yongcheng in Qizhou.
After a half-year truce, tensions in the Guanzhong region finally became high again.
On April 27, the governor of Yanzhou, Prince of Anfeng Yuan Yanming, received an order from the court to quell the rebellion. He knew that speed was of the essence in war, so he did not go to Qingzhou to concentrate his troops. Instead, he used Yanzhou's 10,000 troops as the vanguard and headed directly to Pengcheng, the capital of Xuzhou.
When the Northern Wei army arrived, local nobles in Xuzhou mobilized their local soldiers and opened the city gates to welcome the Northern Wei army.
Ten days later, Yuan Yanming attacked near Xuzhou. Because Yuan Yanming came too quickly, the rebellious Yuan Faseng had no time to react. He did not dare to go out of Pengcheng to fight. He could only send people to guard Pengcheng and continuously sent messengers to urge the Southern Liang army to march and take over Pengcheng.
On May 7, Yuan Yanming built two fortresses in Pengcheng near the Huai River, and sent troops to Xuzhou City to call on the local nobles to kill Yuan Faseng and open the city to surrender.
Yuan Faseng knew that Yuan Yanming was good at fighting, so he didn't dare to go out of the city to fight. He could only let his subordinates suppress the people in the city and kill several local nobles in Xuzhou to vent his anger.
On the south bank of the Huai River, Xiao Zong, who received military intelligence from the front line, finally felt relieved.
The pace of the war finally slowed down, so he could slowly place his own confidants in place, control cities such as Northern Xuzhou, and then surrender these cities to the Northern Wei.
Xiao Zong corrupted the generals around him and made them loyal to him.
Those who could not be corrupted or won over, or simply the generals sent by his father Emperor Xiao Yan to monitor him, were sent to the north to fight Yuan Yanming, but they were not allocated enough ships and supplies.
The result is predictable. These generals returned in defeat, were convicted by Xiao Zong, and deprived of their right to command troops.
In this way, Xiao Zong gradually took control of part of the army.
But now Xiao Zong encountered a trouble. Chen Qianzhi led three thousand Jiankang soldiers to join him.
Chen Qingzhi was a close confidant of his father Emperor Xiao Yan, and it was impossible for him to be won over by him.
Therefore, Xiao Zong warmly received Chen Qianzhi in the camp north of the Huai River.
Xiao Zong led Chen Qingzhi into the army and pointed to the Yuan Yanming camp across the Huai River and said:
"Pengcheng has sent messengers many times, asking us to advance, but these two fortresses guard the Huai River. If we try to cross the river, we will attack them halfway across. For the sake of the lives of our soldiers, I plan to build warships in the camp and then attack again."
This was an excuse that Xiao Zong had already planned out. He built a dock on the north side of the Huai River to construct siege boats (water warships equipped with siege poles) and used this excuse to delay the advance.
Chen Qingzhi was wearing a white robe. Because his health was not very good, he usually did not wear full armor in the army.
After listening to Xiao Zong's statement, Chen Qingzhi frowned and said:
"The Northern Dynasty is still gathering troops in the rear. I'm afraid the Yuanfa monks won't be able to hold on until the reinforcements arrive."
Xiao Zong pretended to be anxious and said:
"But if we force our way across the river, it will lead to our defeat, and the counties in Xuzhou that we have already occupied will be in danger."
Chen Qingzhi did not doubt Xiao Zong, but said:
"Prince Yuzhang, I beg you to fight me."
When Xiao Zong heard Chen Qingzhi volunteer to fight, it was exactly what he wanted.
These days, the person he feared most was Chen Qianzhi.
This is not to say that he was afraid that Chen Qingzhi could fight, but because Chen Qingzhi was a close confidant of Xiao Yan. Xiao Zong was suspicious and afraid that Chen Qingzhi was sent by Xiao Yan to control him.
In addition, he was also afraid that Chen Qingzhi would report to Xiao Yan, so he was busy sending Chen Qingzhi to the front line to fight.
Now Chen Qingzhi took the initiative to ask for battle, which was exactly what Xiao Zong wanted.
He asked with pretended concern:
"General Chen, our army needs to defend the Huai River, and we are short of manpower. If all else fails, we can still squeeze out 2,000 soldiers to assist General Chen."
Unexpectedly, Chen Qingzhi said:
"Prince Yuzhang should guard the Huai River well. The three thousand soldiers under Chen Qingzhi are enough."
Hearing Chen Qingzhi's boast, Xiao Zong was even happier and ordered food to be sent to his soldiers, but did not give Chen Qingzhi armor, weapons and horses. Chen Qingzhi did not care, and after the army rested for two days, he ordered the army to cross the river.
On the Wei army side, the one guarding the fortress north of the Huai River was Yuan Yanming's general Qiu Daqian.
In one of the fortresses, soldiers were surrounding Bian Ji, listening to him explain stories from the Buddhist scriptures.
Bian Ji was forced into the army, but he did not suffer any punishment.
Since the Northern Wei Dynasty advocated Buddhism, the captain in the army confirmed that Bian Ji was a monk and did not make things difficult for him. He made him a junior officer in charge of logistics.
In his spare time, Bian Ji would also explain Buddhism in the army. Life in the barracks was boring and desperate, so Bian Ji also comforted the soldiers at the lower level. The officers not only allowed him to preach, but also came to listen.
Qiu Daqian has always been a rather arrogant and reckless person.
The current situation is that Yuan Faseng and his son are hiding in Pengcheng, while Yuan Yanming leads his troops to surround Pengcheng.
Qiu Daqian was stationed in two fortresses on the banks of the Huai River to block Xiao Zong's army across the river.
Qiu Daqian is almost forgotten in these two fortresses!
Xiao Zong on the other side of the river had no intention of supporting Yuan Faseng at all. After sending a group of his generals to die a while ago, no Nanliang army had crossed the river in recent days.
So when Qiu Daqian saw Chen Qianzhi's army crossing the river, his subordinate captain asked him to attack immediately, but was stopped by Qiu Daqian.
"If we attack now, the enemy's rear army can retreat south of the Huai River. It would be better for us to line up outside the fortress and wait until the enemy crosses the river before attacking."
The captains looked and saw that Chen Qingzhi's troops who crossed the river had only about 3,000 men, while there were also 5,000 men in the two fortresses on their side, and Yuan Yanming's siege army was not far away.
These days, the Southern Liang army crossed the river to fight, but was defeated by Qiu Daqian's army and fled in disarray. The officers were also a little arrogant and did not oppose Qiu Daqian's orders.
Seeing the Northern Wei army lined up under the fortress, Chen Qianzhi's army also became intimidated.
Chen Qingzhi's army gathered in Jiankang and rushed to Pengcheng.
Although they had eaten a full day yesterday, the damage to their armor caused by the forced march had not yet been repaired, their war horses had not been replenished, and the soldiers were mentally exhausted.
When they were halfway across the river, a captain said to Chen Qingzhi:
"General, the enemy has already formed up under the fortress. Our army's armor is not in repair, so we should retreat to the south bank camp to repair before attacking."
But Chen Qingzhi shook his head and said:
"If the enemy can leave the fortress and fight us in the field, then this army must be the elite soldiers of the Northern Dynasty. The elite soldiers have been taken out of the fortress. As long as we defeat this army outside the city, the two fortresses can be captured."
"This is because the enemy generals underestimated us. Our army has a chance to capture the fortress without attacking the city. March quickly!"
At this time, the captain wanted to persuade him again, but Chen Qingzhi pointed to the talisman in his hand and said:
"Your Majesty gave me the seal, not for decoration. I must not violate the general's law!"
After Chen Qianzhi took command of the troops, he indeed enforced strict laws. No matter whether it was his own confidants or the officers and soldiers of the 3,000 troops, anyone who violated military law would be punished.
However, Chen Qianzhi was able to clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments and share the hardships with the soldiers. The captains had no choice but to lead their troops across the river as quickly as possible.
Then Chen Qingzhi led his personal troops to cross the river first. After crossing the river, he was relieved to see that Qiu Dachi's army still had no reaction.
He immediately ordered the soldiers crossing the river to form a battle array around his personal guards, and deliberately let the rear army delay time to cross the river.
In this way, most of the Liang army had crossed the Huai River and set up military formations on the north bank of the Huai River. Only then did Qiu Dachi's Northern Wei army start to move.
Qiu Dachi originally wanted to wait for the Southern Liang army to completely cross the river and then destroy the entire army.
However, this Southern Liang army was slow in crossing the river. The front and middle armies had already crossed the river and formed a battle formation, but the rear army was still crossing slowly.
When Qiu Dachi led his troops to attack, Chen Qianzhi was not panicked at all. He even mobilized the entire army.
"Today our army will cross the river and attack, just like Xiang Yu who burned his boats and Han Xin who fought with his back to the river. If we win this battle, Your Majesty will not hesitate to reward us with money and official positions. If we lose this battle, the Huai River will be our burial place."
Chen Qianzhi also reluctantly put on his armor and mounted his horse, drew his sword and began to command his troops to form a battle array.
Seeing the Huai River behind them and the Northern Wei army rushing up, Chen Qianzhi's army also burst out with the courage to fight to the death.
On the other hand, Qiu Dachi originally went out of the fortress to fight in order to gain merit. Qiu Dachi's troops also rushed forward for military merit, and regarded the Southern Liang army that was halfway across the river as an easy target.
However, the half-crossing in military strategy is different from the deliberate half-crossing like Chen Qianzhi's.
Chen Qianzhi deliberately slowed down the speed of the rear army crossing the river to give the front and central armies time to form a battle formation to meet the enemy.
Moreover, Chen Qianzhi's military tactics were strict and completely different from those of the previous Southern Liang armies, so Qiu Dachi's army hit a wall.
Bian Ji, who was left in the fortress, was also watching the battle on the city wall. He also found that something was wrong with this Southern Liang army.
After a charge, the Northern Wei army failed to break through Chen Qianzhi's defense line, and was instead pushed back by the Southern Liang army in some areas.
Just when Qiu Dachi was preparing to retreat to the fortress, Chen Qianzhi led his troops to counterattack.
The offensive and defensive situation was reversed in an instant. Seeing this situation, Bian Ji immediately said to the officers guarding the city:
"Open the door quickly! Bring back the general!"
The officers guarding the city were also at a loss. After hearing what Bian Ji said, they immediately ordered the city gates to be opened.
At this time, Qiu Dachi's army had been defeated. When he was about to lead his troops back to the fortress, he found that one of the fortress gates was open.
Seeing this, Qiu Dachi became suspicious again.
He was worried that there might be a traitor in the city, so after a brief thought, Qiu Dachi immediately made a decision and led his troops to retreat to Yuan Yanming's camp in the north.
Qiu Dachi retreated northward, and his army naturally followed him to the north in defeat. Chen Qianzhi looked at the fortress with its gates open, and without hesitation ordered to give up pursuing Qiu Dachi, and the entire army rushed towards the two fortresses.
The commander fled, and the elite troops in the fortress were scattered. Just as Chen Qianzhi had said, the remaining defenders had neither the ability nor the will to hold out.
The fortress where Bian Ji was located simply left the city and surrendered.
In this way, Chen Qianzhi took only one day to capture the fortress north of the Huai River that Xiao Zong had failed to capture in seven days.
After Yuan Yanming received the news of the fall of the fortress along the Huai River, he also knew that the window of opportunity for attacking Pengcheng had passed.
If Xiao Zong's main force crossed the river, his own army would be attacked by the army in Pengcheng in turn.
Yuan Yanming could only regretfully lead his troops to retreat to the north and wait for reinforcements from Qingzhou to arrive before finding a solution.
In this way, Bian Ji became Chen Qianzhi's prisoner again.
(End of this chapter)