Chapter 261 Epic Victory
In this way, Chen Qianzhi attacked two fortresses, and Xiao Zong, who was standing opposite the Huai River watching the battle, was stunned with mixed feelings.
Xiao Zong's plan was to have Chen Qianzhi sent away, then deprive him of his military power, and then implement his own plan.
But unexpectedly, Chen Qianzhi defeated five thousand men by crossing the river and attacking the fortress!
Is this fair?
Chen Qingzhi's victory made the generals under Xiao Zong feel proud, and they all asked Xiao Zong to cross the river immediately.
Although Xiao Zong was extremely reluctant, he now had no reason not to cross the river. He could only delay until the next morning and order the entire army to cross the Huai River.
At this time, Yuan Faseng in Pengcheng saw the light at the end of the tunnel!
Everyone thought Pengcheng was going to fall, but unexpectedly, Chen Qianzhi's army descended from the sky and defeated Qiu Daqian. Now Yuan Yanming's army has also withdrawn.
Yuan Faseng just wanted to escape south as quickly as possible; he was already scared by the beating.
Pengcheng is the focus of the war between the two countries. Now Yuan Faseng has finally realized his own strengths and weaknesses, and he doesn't want to stay on the battlefield for a moment.
Yuan Faseng sent his son Yuan Jinglong to Xiao Zong's army and asked him to surrender Pengcheng.
When Xiao Zong looked at Yuan Jinglong who surrendered the city, it was as if a thousand horses were galloping through his heart.
The uprising was too short and the battle was too smooth, so Xiao Zong was unable to eliminate dissidents and completely control the troops under his command.
Now that Chen Qianzhi has won a great victory, if he enters Pengcheng, how can he surrender to the Northern Wei?
When he thought of this, Xiao Zong still hated Qiu Daqian!
If you stay in the fortress of Huaishui River, can Chen Qianzhi still cross the river to attack your fortress? You must go out of the city to fight!
Then Xiao Zong looked at Yuan Jinglong with disgust again. After all, you and your son, the Yuan family, are members of the Northern Wei royal family. What's the point of surrendering to the Southern Liang?
The development of things has completely gone beyond Xiao Zong's plan.
But everyone looked at Xiao Zong, waiting for his order to march into Pengcheng.
After Yuan Jinglong left, Xiao Zong still tried to resist and delay time. He said:
"It is still unclear whether Yuan Faseng and his son have truly surrendered. If this is a trap set by the Suolu (a term used by the Northern Dynasties), our army will be in danger. So we should test Pengcheng's strength before deciding to enter the city."
But at this time, it was not up to the commander-in-chief Xiao Zong to have the final say. The generals could not just ignore the great achievement of occupying Pengcheng.
trap?
Didn't you see how fiercely Yuan Yanming attacked Pengcheng? If this was a self-torture tactic, it would be too painful!
All the generals and soldiers requested to fight. Xiao Zong looked at Chen Qingzhi again, fearing that this close minister of his father would see the flaw, so he had to send troops to follow Yuan Jinglong back to Pengcheng.
At the same time, there was chaos inside Pengcheng.
Pengcheng was on the front line of the war between the North and the South, and everyone in the city knew what it was like when the two countries were at war.
No matter how unjust the officials sent by the Northern Wei court were, the land was still theirs after all, and generally speaking they would just exploit it more harshly.
After the enemy occupies the city, it is no longer a simple matter of looting.
Every time the Southern Dynasty went to war, they would loot the cities after capturing them, and would also abduct men, women, and children. The men would be sold into manors as slaves, while the women and children would be sent to the market to be sold as slaves.
The treatment of slaves in those manors in the Southern Dynasties was almost the same as that in the cotton plantations of a certain country.
The Xuzhou nobles hated Yuan Faseng, and resistance broke out one after another in the city.
But at this time, the gates of Pengcheng had already been opened. When the Southern Liang army saw the gates open, they ignored Xiao Zong's cautious orders and rushed directly into the city to grab the spoils.
Seeing that Pengcheng was really broken, Xiao Zong finally made up his mind and could only use the last plan!
The Southern Liang army poured into Pengcheng, and the only one left outside the city was Chen Qianzhi's army.
These Southern Liang troops looted in Pengcheng for a whole day, and at nightfall they could still hear shouting and wailing in the city.
However, Xiao Zong, the commander-in-chief of the army, did not enter the city. He simply accepted the surrender of Yuan Faseng and his son and set up camp outside the city.
After nightfall, Xiao Zong put on the black mask he usually wore at night, changed into durable running shoes, took a deep breath, and ran towards the direction of Yuan Yanming's retreat with a few of his most loyal followers!
Just like that, Xiao Zong, the son of Emperor Xiao Yan of Southern Liang, Prince of Yuzhang, commander-in-chief of the Southern Liang army, and Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Army, actually escaped from the military camp and surrendered to the enemy!
Xiao Zong understood that with his control over the army, there was no chance for him to surrender the city.
And once the Southern Liang really occupied Pengcheng, he would have no chance of escape.
It can only be said that Xiao Zong's execution and escape abilities were indeed good. In the dark, he was able to identify the direction and catch up with Yuan Yanming's deserter.
When Yuan Yanming was awakened by his personal guards and saw the Southern Liang imperial axe handed to him by the personal guards, he was stunned!
The Jieyue is a token of a general's service when going to war. Now the only one in the Southern Liang army who can hold it is Prince of Yuzhang Xiao Zong.
Now you tell me that Xiao Zong has come to surrender?
Yuan Yanming didn't think the joke was funny.
But he still ordered his guards to call Xiao Zong to his tent.
Xiao Zong took off his black clothes and said to Yuan Yanming:
"People of a fallen nation, please come to the king and take him in!"
This sentence made Yuan Yanming feel confused, as if he was the one who had just suffered a defeat?
It was clearly me who was defeated and retreated from the vicinity of Pengcheng. Now Pengcheng has been conquered by the Southern Liang. Are you surrendering to me?
Xiao Zong said with tears in his eyes:
"Your Majesty! I am the son of the last ruler of the Former Qi Dynasty. The bastard Xiao Yan and I have a feud that destroyed our family and our country! Back then, our Great Qi and Great Wei had a brotherly alliance. Please come to the court and make the decision for me!"
Yuan Yanming is even more impossible to do. The Southern Qi Dynasty was a long time ago. You say you are the posthumous son of the last emperor of Qi?
You are the posthumous son of the last emperor of Qi, so why did Xiao Yan let you lead troops to fight and make you the Prince of Yuzhang?
Then Xiao Yan is not a Bodhisattva, and he should be the one sitting on the Buddha statue in the main hall.
But after a conversation, Yuan Yanming confirmed that the young man in front of him was indeed the Southern Liang commander-in-chief Xiao Zong!
Yuan Yanming didn't care what the reason was for Xiao Zong to surrender, but he saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
He immediately called his general Qiu Daqian and said to him:
"The commander of Nanliang has surrendered. Tomorrow morning you will lead all the troops to attack Pengcheng. As you attack, shout that the commander of Nanliang has joined our army!"
Qiu Daqian had just been defeated and was unwilling to accept it. Now that Yuan Yanming had handed over all the troops to him, he immediately patted his chest and promised:
"Don't worry, Commander! Even if Qiu dies on the battlefield, he will take back Pengcheng!"
Yuan Yanming settled Xiao Zong in the military camp and asked for his military power. Qiu Daqian led all 7,000 soldiers and began to attack Pengcheng in return.
Yesterday, the Southern Liang army had been looting in Pengcheng for a day and a night. They were exhausted when they encountered the counterattack of the Northern Wei army. The troops in the city were caught off guard.
The Northern Wei army that attacked Pengcheng shouted as they fought:
"Your Prince Yuzhang has arrived last night and is in our army. What are you doing now?"
When the wealthy and powerful people of Pengcheng saw the Northern Wei army returning, they ignited their last hope and fierce resistance broke out in the city again.
Qiu Daqian ordered his soldiers to tie Xiao Zong's imperial sword to his own banner, and then ordered his own banner to be moved forward to the vicinity of Pengcheng so that all the troops in Pengcheng could see it.
The officers and soldiers of the Southern Liang in Pengcheng were in an uproar, and they all sent people to the Xingtai to look for Xiao Zong. When it comes to the generals looking for the commander in chief during the war, the Southern Liang army also has rich experience.
The most recent time was in the fifth year of Tianjian, when Xiao Yan ordered his corrupt brother Xiao Hong to lead troops to attack the Northern Wei. On the way, they encountered a heavy rainstorm, and Xiao Hong, the commander-in-chief of the army, abandoned his troops and fled.
After a while of searching, they really couldn't find Xiao Zong. The sharp-eyed officers recognized the axe tied to the banner, and estimated that this story was most likely true.
The Southern Liang army suddenly became leaderless and fled from Pengcheng in panic.
When Chen Qianzhi heard the news, he also came out of the military camp outside the city and wanted to reorganize the army.
It’s a pity that Chen Qianzhi just arrived the day before yesterday. Not to mention establishing a reputation in Xiao Zong’s army, most of the officers and soldiers in Xiao Zong’s army don’t even know him.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Chen Qingzhi had no choice but to retreat south of the Huai River with his troops.
Qiu Daqian captured the city in the first battle, and morale was even higher. At this time, the army recruited by the Northern Wei in Qingzhou also arrived near Pengcheng.
Yuan Yanming was overjoyed and immediately ordered Qiu Daqian to continue leading his troops across the Huai River and continue pursuing the defeated troops of Southern Liang!
The Southern Liang army lost its commander and suffered a major defeat in Pengcheng, being beaten back step by step by the Northern Wei army.
The counties and cities in Northern Xuzhou occupied by Southern Liang also broke out in uprisings. The Southern Liang defenders were unable to resist, and the cities in Southern Xuzhou that they had originally occupied were lost one after another.
By May 15th, only Chen Qianzhi's 3,000 troops remained intact and fled to the city of Suyu (Suqian) controlled by the Southern Liang Dynasty. Only then did the Northern Wei army stop pursuing them.
After settling down and checking the army, Chen Qianzhi felt so sad that he had no tears left.
The 30,000 troops led by Xiao Zong on the northern expedition were completely wiped out, and the commander Xiao Zong surrendered to the enemy.
The Southern Liang army suffered heavy losses as they failed to capture any city in Northern Xuzhou.
It cannot be said that this battle was a complete failure. Chen Qianzhi also brought back Yuan Faseng and his son, as well as some surrendered Northern Wei officials.
There was also another monk named Bian Ji. It was said that he was very famous in Luoyang. He was involved in a coup in the Northern Dynasties and fled to Southern Liang. This monk was proficient in Buddhism and was indeed a great monk.
Chen Qingzhi was a close minister to Xiao Yan, so naturally he wanted to cater to his interests and study Buddhism. This monk Bian Ji could be brought to the emperor.
Chen Qingzhi immediately reported the war news to the Southern Liang court, while the Northern Wei commander was also busy reporting the victory to Luoyang.
Bian Ji, who was in the army, wrote a report on the entire process of the battle and sent it to Su Ze. Su Ze in Liangzhou was also shocked by this dramatic war.
This is probably the excellent matching mechanism of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
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Yuan Yanming made great contributions and recovered northern Xuzhou, so he was naturally very happy.
At the celebration banquet, he asked Xiao Zong:
"Prince Yuzhang has turned from evil to good, the court will not be stingy with rewards. Is there anything the king needs now?"
In fact, Yuan Yanming was just pretending to care, but he didn't expect Xiao Zong to say:
"My lord, I want to change my name."
"what?"
Xiao Zong said:
"The royal family of my Great Qi all have names with the radical 'yan'. The bastard Xiao Yan named me Zong (the royal family of the Southern Liang Dynasty used the radical 'jiaosi') in order to make me go against human ethics. I will change my name to Zan (the traditional Chinese character for Zan is the radical 'yan')!"
Yuan Yanming and his subordinates looked at each other in surprise, and thought that this guy was a psycho!
However, this lunatic had made great contributions, and they were not sure how the court would deal with him, so they could only let him go.
Yuan Yanming could only agree, and he asked again:
"What else does Prince Yuzhang need?"
Xiao Zan said:
"After my father passed away, I was unable to observe mourning for him. I want to wear mourning clothes and mourn for my father."
Yuan Yanming could no longer hold back.
Zhan Xi is one of the five mourning garments in Confucianism and an important mourning garment.
It is made of the coarsest raw linen, with the broken parts exposed and no hems. The mourning top is called "縗", hence the name "斩縗".
The princes were the emperor, the ministers were the monarch, the men and unmarried girls were the fathers, the eldest grandson (the eldest grandson of the eldest son) was the grandfather, and the wives and concubines were the husbands, and they all wore the hanyi robe.
But the emperor of our Great Wei is not dead, and your father did not die today. What are you trying to do by wearing a hanqi robe now?
Yuan Yanming did not dare to agree to Xiao Zan's request, so he had to appease him and said:
"The last emperor of Qi has passed away for many years. Let's talk about it after Prince Yuzhang returns to the court and enters the Qi ancestral temple."
When Xiao Baoyin fled to Northern Wei, Emperor Xiaowen helped Xiao Baoyin establish the ancestral temple of Qi in Luoyang.
Xiao Zan thought about it and nodded.
This time Yuan Yanming didn't dare to ask any more questions. He quickly asked someone to serve wine to celebrate this great victory.
Yuan Yanming made up his mind not to let Xiao Zan return to Luoyang with the army, but to send him there on horseback!
Jiankang City.
When Xiao Yan received Chen Qianzhi's battle report and learned about the course of the Battle of Northern Xuzhou, he was first surprised and then furious.
Xiao Zong's life experience was also due to Xiao Yan's hasty actions back then.
After Xiao Yan rebelled, he broke into the palace of Southern Qi and quickly took over the harem of the last emperor of Southern Qi.
Xiao Zong's mother, Concubine Wu, was the favorite concubine of Xiao Baojuan, the last emperor of Southern Qi.
After accepting Concubine Wu, she was found to be pregnant, so Xiao Zong's life experience became questionable.
But Xiao Yan himself knew that Xiao Zong was his son.
But who would have thought that this rebellious son would believe the rumors and actually cause such a disaster!
Xiao Yan inquired further and found out that the rumor was not spread by someone else, but by Xiao Zong's mother, his own concubine, Concubine Wu. Because Xiao Yan had been practicing Buddhism and not interested in women in recent years, she resented him and his son and spread the rumor!
In anger, Xiao Yan immediately ordered that Concubine Wu's title be stripped and she be sent to the cold palace!
Xiao Zong still had a wife and son in Jiankang, so Xiao Yan ordered that Xiao Zong be removed from the clan membership and changed Xiao Zong's son Xiao Zhi's surname to Bei, and changed his name to Beizhi.
However, this Bodhisattva Emperor forgave the family in less than ten days. He not only restored Concubine Wu's title, but also restored Xiao Zong's family's royal status, and conferred the title of Marquis of Yongxin on his son Xiao Zhi.
And during the time when Northern Xuzhou changed hands twice, Xiao Wei, the governor of Yizhou in Southern Liang and Prince of Nanping, finally reorganized his army.
However, the Prince of Nanping, who was determined to launch the Northern Expedition, probably didn't know that the main force of the Northern Expedition had been wiped out, and his small force had become the main force!
To be honest, I can't hold back when writing this.
(End of this chapter)