Ten of the most famous battles in history

1 The Battle of Julu

In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up in Daze Township to resist the rule of the Qin Dynasty, igniting the first great peasant uprising in our country. For a time, "all followers in the world were like running water". Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu raised troops in Jiangdong and made Xin, the grandson of King Huai of Chu, the emperor, also known as King Huai of Chu. Their capital was Xuyi. Zhang Er and Chen Yu participated in the uprising, established Zhao Xie as king, established the Kingdom of Zhao in Xindu (near Xingtai City). The rulers of the Qin Dynasty brutally suppressed the peasant uprising. In 208 BC, Qin general Zhang Han led his army north to attack Zhao and stopped at Handan. The Zhao army failed to support them and retreated to Julu, where they were besieged by Qin general Wang Li's tribe. At that time, the Qin army attacking Zhao in Hebei had no less than 300,000 troops. At this time, there were not many troops in Julu City, and food and grass were running out. Although Zhao general Chen Yu led tens of thousands of troops to garrison in the north of Julu, he did not dare to send troops and built a camp wall to protect himself. The other armies of Qi and Yan who came to Zhao's aid were also frightened by the Qin army's momentum. They all built forts and did not dare to fight.

When Julu was surrounded, the envoy from Zhao asked Chu for help. King Huai of Chu took Song Yi as his general and Xiang Yu as his second general, and led his army north to rescue Zhao. But Song Yi was intimidated by the arrogance of the Qin army and stayed in Wangyang (now Caoxian County, Shandong) for forty-six days without daring to advance. Xiang Yu was angry and killed Song Yi, and King Huai of Chu appointed Xiang Yu as general.

Xiang Yu sent Yingbu and Pu generals in advance to lead 20,000 troops across Zhang to attack Qin. Then he personally led the main force across the river. In order to show his determination to fight Qin to the death, he ordered the soldiers to sink the ships, smash the rice pots, burn the camps, and take only three days of dry food. Xiang Yu first surrounded Wang Li with thunderous force. After nine rounds of attacks, he cut off the Qin army's passage and achieved great results. Qin general Su Jiao was beaten to death, Wang Li was taken prisoner, and She heard that he burned himself to death. During the battle, the Chu army "one against ten" and "the shouts shook the sky". The other troops who were aiding Zhao were watching from the camp walls, frightened and afraid to fight. After that, Xiang Yu continued to defeat the Qin army, and Zhang Han had to raise the flag, Xiang Yu's reputation was greatly enhanced.

In the Battle of Julu, the main force of the Qin army, 300,000 people, was wiped out. This played a decisive role in the final overthrow of the violent Qin rule. The great writer Sima Qian described and recorded this huge battle in detail in "Historical Records of Xiang Yu", which became an immortal work that will be passed down through the ages. "The cauldron sinks the boat" and "watching from the sidelines" have gradually become two widely circulated idioms.

The Battle of Erkunyang

The Battle of Kunyang broke out in the first year of Gengshi (23rd year). It was a strategic decisive battle for the Green Forest Rebel Army to overthrow Wang Mang's regime. It was also a decisive battle for our country. A typical example in history of defeating more with less. In this decisive battle, the peasant uprising army led by Liu Xiu and others, with their fearless bravery and flexible tactics, wiped out the main force of Wang Mang's army in one fell swoop, sounding the death knell for the complete destruction of the New Mang dynasty. It has certain progressive significance in history.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, politics was decadent, the economy was in decline, people were in dire straits, and crises were everywhere. Wang Mang, a relative, took advantage of this situation, played political tricks, seized power, and established a new dynasty. However, Wang Mang's "restructuring" approach after taking power not only failed to improve the situation, but also caused class conflicts to intensify. Unable to bear it any longer, the general public rose up one after another and used force to resist Xin Mang's rule. For a time, the uprising raged across the north and south of the Yellow River and the Jianghan area. The Xinmang Dynasty was completely in a state of rebellion and turmoil.

Among the many peasant rebel armies at that time, Green Forest and Red Eyebrow were the most powerful. They continued to attack Xin Mang's forces militarily, and gradually advanced towards the heart of Wang Mang's rule. The Xinmang dynasty was unwilling to withdraw from the stage of history and gathered its strength to carry out a desperate struggle. The peasant uprising entered the final offensive stage. The Battle of Kunyang was the product of this historical background.

At the beginning of the fourth year of Emperor Xinmang's reign (23rd year), the various units of the Green Forest Army took advantage of Wang Mang's main force to attack Chimei eastward. When the Central Plains was empty, they sent their troops northward and attacked at Xiashui (now Biyang, Henan). He defeated King Mang in Jingzhou and sent his troops to Zhenfu and Liangqiu. Then he defeated the troops of Yan You and Chen Mao in Huiyang (now northeast of Xinye, Henan), and his power quickly grew to more than 100,000 people. Under the situation of the victorious march, the peasant army began to demand the establishment of political power, so in February, Liu Xuan, a descendant of the Han Dynasty, was elected as emperor, the Han system was restored, and the reign title was changed. The establishment of the reforming regime marked a new stage in the peasant uprising, and Wang Mang became increasingly passive in all aspects of politics and military affairs.

After the establishment of the Gengshi regime, the main force went north to besiege the strategically important Wancheng (now Nanyang, Henan), and marched into the Sichuan area. In order to prevent Wang Mang's army from moving south and ensure the main force to carry out operations, the reform regime sent Wang Feng, Wang Chang and Liu Xiu to lead some troops. They took advantage of the enemy Yan You and Chen Mao's army being stranded in Yingchuan County to quickly capture Kunyang. (Today's Ye County, Henan Province), Dingling (today's North of Wuyang, Henan Province), Lin County (today's South of Yancheng, Henan Province) and other places formed a corner with the main force besieging Wancheng. This created favorable conditions for the next step to attack Luoyang, join forces with the Red Eyebrow Army, and enter Chang'an through Guanxi to eliminate Wang Mang's regime.

The Wang Mang regime was very uneasy about the strategic trends of the Gengshi Peasant Rebel Army, so it hurriedly changed its military deployment and shifted its main force from dealing with Chimei to dealing with the Gengshi Army. In March, Wang Mang sent the Grand Commander Wang Yi and Situ Wang Xun to Luoyang, where he recruited 420,000 elite troops from various counties, known as a million soldiers, to attack the Gengshi Army in the south, hoping to fight the peasant army in a decisive battle with superior force and win in one fell swoop. In order to ensure Wancheng, stabilize Jingzhou, and ensure the safety of Chang'an and Luoyang.

In May, Wang Yi and Wang Xun led their troops west out of Luoyang and south to Yingchuan, where they met up with Yan You and Chen Mao, and forced them to advance to Yangguan (now northwest of Yu County, Henan Province). Liu Xiu's reform army withdrew to Kunyang. After that, they continued to advance and approached Kunyang.

When the 420,000 Wang Mang army approached Kunyang, there were only eight or nine thousand soldiers in Kunyang City. The reforming peasant army did not have unified opinions on how to deal with the powerful enemy. Some generals believe that the enemy and our forces are vastly outnumbered and that it will be difficult to win. Therefore, they advocate avoiding decisive battles, breaking them into pieces, returning to the base first, and then attacking later. However, Liu Xiu opposed this passive approach and advocated concentrating troops, holding on to Kunyang, delaying and consuming Wang Yi's army, covering the main force to capture Wancheng, and then waiting for opportunities to defeat the enemy. At this time, Wang Yi's vanguard troops were approaching the north of Kunyang City. At this critical moment, the generals agreed to Liu Xiu's suggestion. It was decided that Wang Feng, Wang Chang and others would lead the troops to defend the city, while Liu Xiu, Li Yi and others were sent to lead 13 horses out of the city at night and rush to Lin County and Dingling to mobilize reinforcements.

Wang Yi, Wang Xun and others led the Xinmang army to swarm Kunyang City and surrounded it. At this time, Yan You, who had fought against the Green Forest Army and knew its power, suggested to Wang Yi: Kunyang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the main force of the Gengshi Peasant Army is in the Wancheng area. Our army should bypass Kunyang and rush forward quickly. Go to Wancheng and defeat the main force of the Gengshi Army there first. Then Kunyang City can be defeated without a fight. However, Wang Yi and others relied on their strong military strength and refused to listen to this appropriate advice. They insisted on capturing Kunyang first and then attacking the main force of the Gengshi Peasant Army. So he used all his troops to form more than a hundred camps and stormed Kunyang. He also arrogantly threatened: "We have millions of troops, and everything we have done should be destroyed. Now we will massacre this city, march forward with blood, singing and dancing in front of us, don't worry about it!" Yangcheng launched an attack, dug tunnels, and built cloud chariots in an attempt to win by force. The defenders of Kunyang had no way to retreat, so they relied on the support of the people in the city to join forces to resist and defend the dangerous city. They repelled Wang Yi's army's attacks many times and caused great attrition and frustration to the enemy.

Yan You saw that Kunyang City could not be attacked repeatedly and his army was becoming increasingly passive, so he once again suggested to Wang Yi: "The siege of the city must be open to one side, so that some of the defenders in the city can escape and spread under Wanyang City. To shake the enemy's morale and undermine their morale, Wang Yi still failed to adopt it.

After Liu Xiu and others arrived at Dingling and Lin County, they persuaded the garrison generals who were unwilling to send troops, and on the first day of June, they led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry troops to rush to Kunyang. At this time, Wang Yi's army was exhausted from long battles and had lost all its vigor, which provided an opportunity for the Reform Army to defeat it. Liu Xiuqin led more than a thousand reinforcements on foot and cavalry as the vanguard, and formed a formation two or three kilometers away from Wang Yi's army, preparing for battle. Wang Yi, Wang Xun and others relied on their strong military strength and were arrogant and underestimated the enemy, so they only sent thousands of people to fight. Liu Xiu led his troops to attack bravely, charging repeatedly and killing dozens of Wang Yi's troops on the spot. He won the first battle and greatly boosted morale.

At this time, the main force of the Gengshi Rebel Army had captured Wancheng for three days, but the news of the victory had not yet reached Kunyang. In order to boost the morale of the entire army and shake the enemy's morale, Liu Xiu produced a battle report about the capture of Wancheng and shot it into Kunyang City with arrows. He also deliberately lost the battle report and let Wang Yi's army pick it up and spread it. Once this news spread, the morale of the defenders in Kunyang City became higher and they defended the city more resolutely; while Wang Yi's army was unable to attack Kunyang Fort for a long time due to the sudden attack on the city. When they heard that Wancheng had fallen, their morale became even more depressed. The balance of victory began to tilt towards the side of the rebels.

After Liu Xiu won the first battle, he was good at seizing opportunities. Taking advantage of the enemy's low morale and the commander's arrogance to underestimate the enemy, he selected 3,000 warriors to sneak back to the enemy's flank unexpectedly. , secretly forded Kunshui (now Huihe River in Ye County, Henan Province) and launched an extremely violent attack on Wangyi's base camp. At this time, Wang Yi and others still despised the Han army and did not pay attention to Liu Xiu. At the same time, they were worried that the state and county soldiers would lose control, so they ordered each battalion to restrain their troops and not send troops without authorization. He and Wang Xun led ten thousand people Face Liu Xiu's charge. However, Wang Yi's approach caused serious consequences: under the fierce attack of the elite troops led by Liu Xiu, Wang Yi's more than 10,000 men quickly fell into the dilemma of being passively beaten and the formation was in chaos. However, because Wang Yi had orders in advance, no one of the generals dared to rescue him. As a result, Wang Yi's army was defeated and Wang Xun was killed by the sword. The defenders in Kunyang City saw that the enemy's commander had left the army and that the enemy's formation was in chaos. They took advantage of the situation and launched a timely attack. They attacked from both inside and outside. The sound of killing shook the heaven and the earth, and Wang Yi's entire army was completely defeated. Seeing that the situation was over, the generals of Wang Yi's army fled for their lives, trampling on each other and leaving corpses everywhere. At this time, there happened to be strong winds and heavy rain, and the Nian River surged. Wang Yi's army fled through the water and drowned. Countless people were drowned, making the Nian River stagnant. Only a few people, such as Wang Yi and Yan You, escaped in embarrassment. , fled into Luoyang. To the north, the Battle of Kunyang ended with a glorious victory in which the Gengshi Rebel Army annihilated the main force of Wang Mang's army and obtained all its equipment and baggage.

The Battle of Kunyang was the decisive battle in the Green Forest and Red Eyebrow Uprising. It gathered and annihilated the main force of the army that Wang Mang relied on to maintain his rule, and created favorable conditions for the rebel army to successfully march into Luoyang and Chang'an, and finally overthrow Xin Mang's rule.

In the Battle of Kunyang, the strength of Wang Mang's army was 420,000, while the total strength of the Gengshi rebel army's city defenders and foreign aid combined was only 20,000.

However, under such a huge disparity in strength, the rebel army was able to achieve a glorious victory of annihilating the enemy. This is by no means accidental. To sum up its gist, there are roughly the following: Political resistance to Wang Mang's tyrannical rule conforms to the wishes and demands of the broad masses of the people, and thus obtains the support and support of the people. This is the profound political root of the victory of the rebel army in the Battle of Kunyang. Militarily, the rebel army implemented the correct approach of sticking to Kunyang, containing the enemy, mobilizing troops, and actively counterattacking. This seriously delayed the actions of Wang Yi's army, consumed its strength, and firmly grasped the initiative in offensive and defensive battlefields. In terms of the specific application of combat guidance, the insurgents dare to fight hard, have high morale, and are good at exploiting the enemy's weaknesses. They use both psychological attacks and military attacks to destroy the enemy's will to fight and accumulate small victories into big victories; they are also able to seize opportunities to win. Choose the enemy's headquarters as the primary attack target and destroy it in one fell swoop, leaving the enemy in a leaderless situation and ultimately unable to escape the fate of failure.

3 The Battle of Guandu

In 200 AD, Yuan Shao selected 100,000 elite infantry and 10,000 cavalry, with Liyang as the base camp; he ordered Yan Liang as the vanguard to cross the river to attack Baima. Cao Cao used Xun You's plan and threatened to cross the river to steal Yuan Shao's retreat. Yuan Shao ordered Yan Liang to send half of his troops to Yanjin to prevent Cao Cao from crossing the river. Cao Cao ordered Yu Jin to defend Yanjin, with Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as the vanguard, and he personally led the main force to attack Baima and fight with Dongjun. Prefect Liu Yan attacked Yan Liang, and Yan Liang was killed.

Yuan Shao was furious and ordered the entire army to cross the river. He also ordered another confidant general Wen Chou and Liu Bei to be the vanguard and attack the white horse. Cao Cao gave up his white horse and retreated to Yanjin. He personally commanded the elite rear and deliberately put away the baggage. Wen Chou and Liu Bei led more than 6,000 cavalry in pursuit and scattered to grab the baggage. Cao Cao took the opportunity to order an attack. Yuan's army was in chaos and Wen Chou himself was killed. Cao Cao acted as a decoy. The enemy penetrated deeply and retreated to Guandu. Yuan Shao refused to listen to Tian Feng's plan and escorted him to Yecheng. Yuan Shao opened up his alliance and advanced step by step; Cao Cao reacted and ordered Yu Jin and Le Jin to attack both wings, and won a great victory. In order to win the victory, Yuan Shao instigated a rebellion against Li Tong and Liu Pi in the south; Li Tong did not betray but instead led troops to destroy the local tycoons who secretly communicated with Yuan Shao; Cao Cao also ordered Cao Ren and Xu Huang to lead the cavalry to suppress Liu Pi and Liu Bei at night.

After Yuan Shao's plan failed, he made another plan and wrote a letter to ask Sun Ce from Jiangdong to go north to attack Xuchang. Cao Cao's counselor Guo Jia believed that Sun Ce was too frivolous and would die at the hands of assassins. As expected, soon after, Sun Ce was blocked by the enemy and was injured. He died due to heavy injuries (one theory is that Guo Jia secretly sent Cao Cao's warriors to kill Sun Ce). The stalemate between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao lasted for a long time, and the army was short of supplies. He wanted to retreat to Xuchang. Xun Wenruo urged Cao Cao to hold on and provide maximum support to the front line. In October 200 AD, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren, Xu Huang and others to sneak attack Yuan Shao's general Han Meng and burn down thousands of carts of grain and grass that Han Meng was escorting. Xu You, a counselor of Yuan Shao, suggested that Yuan Shao send troops to sneak attack Xuchang and kidnap the Han Emperor. After being rejected, Xu You had no choice but to seek refuge with Cao Cao because his family members were tried and imprisoned. Guarding the camp, he led Xia Houyuan, Zhang Liao, Cao Ren and others to attack Wuchao. At the same time, he ordered Xu Huang to sneak attack on Gushi, another place where Yuan Jun's grain and grass were stored. Cao Jun pretended to be Yuan Jun, deceived Yuan Jun's interrogation, and launched a sneak attack on Wuchao.

The news reached Yuan Shao's ears. Yuan Shao did not follow General Zhang He's suggestion to rescue Wuchao with a large number of troops. Instead, he followed the advice of counselor Guo Tu and ordered Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead a heavy army to attack Cao's camp and only send a small number of cavalry to rescue Wuchao. Wuchao. When the reinforcements arrived at Wuchao, Cao Cao first concentrated all his efforts to capture the Wuchao Yuan Army Camp, captured the guarding general Chun Yuqiong, and burned all supplies. Then he turned back and defeated the Yuan Army cavalry who came to rescue him. At the same time, Xu Huang also captured the old city and burned all supplies. The news reached Yuan Jun's camp. In order to avoid being punished, Guo Tu spread a rumor that Zhang He was gloating about Wuchao's defeat. At the same time, he sent someone to inform Zhang He that Yuan Shao wanted to kill Zhang He. Zhang He had no choice but to surrender to Cao Jun. Cao Cao then launched a massive counterattack, but Yuan's army had no fighting spirit and most of them surrendered to Cao's army. Yuan Shao and others only escaped with 800 soldiers; more than 70,000 surrendered soldiers were ordered to be buried alive by Cao Cao. The genius counselor Ju Shou was moved by Cao Cao's sincerity and surrendered, and later won Zhi's family members were in Anhao, Hebei, and wanted to flee north but were killed; another important counselor of Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, was killed by Yuan Shao who believed the slander.

The Battle of Guandu can be said to be the most exciting battle during the Three Kingdoms period and a famous example in the history of war; it marked Cao Cao's formal dominance in the north and laid the foundation for the unification of the north.

Four Chibi Battles

After basically unifying the north, Cao Cao sent his troops south in July of the 13th year of Jian'an, attempting to eliminate Liu Biao who held Jingzhou and Sun Quan in Jiangdong in one fell swoop, and unify the country. . In August, Liu Biao died of illness. His second son Liu Cong was stationed in Xiangyang, and Liu Bei was stationed in Fancheng. In September, Cao Cao arrived at Xinye, and Liu Cong surrendered without a fight. Because Jiangling stored a large amount of Liu Biao's grain, grass, weapons, etc., Liu Bei retreated from Fancheng to Jiangling and ordered Guan Yu to lead his navy to meet at Jiangling via the Han River. Cao Cao personally led five thousand light cavalry, pursued him day and night, defeated Liu Bei at Dangyang Changban (now northeast of Dangyang, Hubei), and occupied Jiangling. Liu Bei gave up his plan to evacuate to Jiangling and retreated southeast towards the Han River. He joined up with Guan Yu's naval force coming east from the Han River and retreated to Xiakou (today's Wuhan, Hubei Province) with an allied force of more than 10,000 men led by Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi, the prefect of Jiangxia. Hankou), plotting to unite with Sun Quan to fight against Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao went south, Sun Quan sent Lu Su as an envoy to Jingzhou to mourn Liu and also said that Liu Bei was united in guarding Cao. Lu Su and Liu Bei met in Dangyang, and Liu Bei retreated to Fankou, E County (today's northwest of Ezhou, Hubei Province) according to his plan. At that time, Cao Cao occupied Jiangling and was about to go eastward along the river. The situation was urgent, so Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to follow Su to Soochow.

When Zhuge Liang arrived at Chaisang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province), Sun Quan had received a threatening letter from Cao Cao, saying that he had trained 800,000 navy troops and would fight Sun Quan in Wu. Sun Quan did not want to surrender the territory of Wu and one hundred thousand people to Cao Cao, and he was worried that the coalition forces of Sun and Liu could not match Cao Cao, so he hesitated. Zhuge Liang analyzed the pros and cons of both the enemy and ourselves, and pointed out that Cao Cao's troops were exhausted during the expedition. Northerners are not used to water warfare. If Sun and Liu join forces, they will surely win. Sun Quan's main war faction represented by Lu Su and the peace faction headed by Zhang Zhao also launched a fierce debate. Zhuge Liang pointed out the error of the Zhuhe faction's opinions, further allaying Sun Quan's concerns. Sun Quan was determined to unite with Liu to fight against Cao and recalled Zhou Yu from Poyang (now northeast of Boyang, Jiangxi). Zhou Yu supported the opinions of Zhuge Liang and Lu Su and pointed out that the actual Cao army from the Central Plains was only 150,000 to 60,000 and was exhausted. The 70,000 to 80,000 people who were newly surrendered by Liu Biao were not in favor of Cao Cao. In addition, Ma Chao and Han Sui are still in Kansai and are Cao Cao's future troubles. These are all unfavorable factors for Cao Cao. Sun Quan strengthened his confidence in joining forces with Liu to defeat Cao, and appointed Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu as the left and right commanders, and Lu Su as the captain of the Zan Army. Zhou Yu led an elite force of 30,000 people and went up the river to Xiakou, where he joined Liu Bei's army of more than 20,000 people and joined forces to fight against Cao Cao.

The coalition forces of Sun and Liu moved westward along the Yangtze River, and met Cao's army at Red Cliff (there have been several theories. It is generally believed to be northwest of Puqi, Hubei Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze River) (see the color picture of the Battle of Chibi) Battlefield site (Puqi, Hubei) Cao's army was unsuccessful in the initial battle and retreated to Wulin on the north bank of the Yangtze River (now northeast of Honghu, Hubei). The two sides faced off across the river. The Northern soldiers were not used to life on the ship, so Cao Cao ordered the warships to be chained together with iron ropes to reduce the turbulence of the wind and waves. Zhou Yu's general Huang Gai suggested using fire attack tactics to defeat Cao's army. Cao Cao was arrogant and underestimated the enemy, believing Huang Gai's false surrender. Huang Gai led ten Mengchong battleships, loaded with firewood and anointing oil, and camouflaged with curtains. They sailed with the wind to Cao Cao's ship, set fire to Cao's ships due to the wind, and the fire spread to the forts on the shore. . Cao's soldiers and horses were burned and drowned, causing heavy casualties. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's armies advanced by land and water. Cao Cao retreated along the Huarong Trail (today's Jianli North, Hubei Province) towards Jiangling. Due to plague and starvation, Cao Cao's army lost most of its troops.

After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao retreated to the north and was no longer able to go south. Liu Bei also took the opportunity to occupy most of Jingzhou through this war. Later, Liu Zhang's Yizhou was captured. Sun Quan occupied Jiangdong, forming a separatist situation among the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu.

Five Battle of Feishui

In 316, the Western Jin Dynasty fell. In the second year, Sima Rui (rui Rui), a royal family member of the Western Jin Dynasty, re-established the Han landlord class power in Jiangnan and established the capital in Jiankang (today's Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), which was historically called the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, political power established by more than a dozen ethnic minorities appeared in the north. Historically, this period was called the "Sixteen Kingdoms" period. In the 1970s of the 4th century AD, Fu (Pu Pu) Jian, the leader of the former Qin state established by the clansmen, unified the Yellow River Basin and formed a situation of confrontation between the north and the south of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

One early morning in October 38, at dawn, all the civil and military officials from Qiantai in Chang'an City gathered in front of the Taiji Hall of the Imperial Palace, waiting for Fu Jian to come to court and convene an imperial meeting to discuss the plan to destroy Pu. . Except for a flattering minister named Zhu Shun (r6ngrong) who agreed with Fu Jian's ideas, most of the ministers believed that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was united inside and outside, and the monarch and his ministers were in harmony. The time to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty was not yet mature, and there was no certainty of victory. Minister Shi Yue said: "The Jin Kingdom is not only harmonious, but also has the Yangtze River as a natural barrier and the support of the people. It seems that it should not be underestimated!" After hearing this, Fu Jian was very unhappy and couldn't help but arrogantly said: "My There are so many people and horses, just give an order and everyone throws their horse whips into the Yangtze River, and the river can be cut off. What else can the Eastern Jin Dynasty use as a barrier?" He insisted on sending troops south.

In August of 383 AD (the eighth year of Taiyuan of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty), Fu Jian recruited more than 600,000 infantry soldiers and 270,000 cavalry troops from various states. Thirty thousand, known as one million, marched toward the southeast region in a mighty manner. Fu Jian appointed Fu Rong as the general in the southern expedition, and together with the Xianbei noble Murong Chui, led 250,000 infantry and cavalry as the vanguard; appointed Qiang general Yao Chang (changchang) as the general Longxiang, leading the Sichuan troops eastward along the Yangtze River; ordered Soldiers and horses from You, Ji and other states went south from Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu). Fu Jian personally led the main army from Chang'an. Along the way, people were noisy and horses neighed, and flags covered the sky. The road was crowded with Qiantai's troops, together with vehicles, horses, grain, grass, and baggage, and it was hundreds of miles long. .

In September, the main force led by Fu Jian captured Xiangcheng (today's Xiangcheng, Henan) and stationed here. After marching day and night for more than a month, Fu Rong's vanguard troops had arrived at Yingkou (now Zhengyang Town, Yingshang County, Anhui Province) on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and were heading towards the important town of Shou on the west bank of the Feishui River (a tributary of the Huaihe River, in today's Shouxian County, Anhui Province). Yang (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) launched an attack.

The former Qin army pressed the territory, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty Prime Minister Xie An and General Huan Chong firmly advocated resistance. Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty appointed Xie An as the supreme commander-in-chief during the war - the conquest governor. Xie An was confident and carried out the war deployment calmly and calmly. He recommended Xie Shi to act as the deputy governor of the expedition and be responsible for commanding the entire army; During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the military headquarters was located in Jingkou (today's Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province), north of Jiankang, Kyoto, so it was called Beifu. The Beifu soldiers were mainly composed of northern farmers living in the south of the Yangtze River. They went west along the Huaihe River. General Hu Bin was sent to lead a navy of five thousand. People went to reinforce Shouyang, a strategically important place.

Fu Jian relied on his large number of troops. He did not wait for all the troops to arrive, and ordered Fu Rong to launch a fierce attack on the Prussian army. In October, before Hu Bin's navy reached Shouyang, Fu Rong captured Shouyang. Hu Bin heard the news of the fall of Shouyang on the way, and was forced to retreat his troops to Xiashi (southwest of Fengtai, Anhui today) with rivers on one side and high mountains on the other, and set up camp in this dangerous place. Waiting for the arrival of Xie Shi's army. After Fu Rong occupied Shouyang, he sent troops to besiege Xiashi, and sent Liang Cheng to lead an army of 50,000 to control Luojian (that is, the place where the Luo River flows into the Huai River, east of Huainan in today's Anhui Province). Liang Cheng blocked the Huai River and blocked Xie Shi and Xie Xuan's troops from the east. Xie Shi ordered the Jin army to station itself twenty-five miles away from Luojian.

Xie Shi's army could not advance, and Hu Bin's navy was isolated in Xiashi. The situation was very critical as the army was about to run out of rations. In order to confuse the enemy, Hu Bin ordered the soldiers to take dustpans and winnow the sand on the river bank every day, so that the Qin army in the distance could see it, as if they were winnowing rice, indicating that their army rations were still sufficient; at the same time, he gave Xie Shi He wrote an urgent letter, saying: "The enemy's power is very strong now. The rations here have been exhausted. The situation is very urgent. I'm afraid I won't be able to see the army again." He handed the secret letter to a soldier and called He broke out at night and presented it to Xie Shi. Unfortunately, this soldier was caught by the Qin army on the way, and the urgent secret messages were also searched. Fu Rong got the information that Hu Bin was short of food, and immediately sent someone to Xiangcheng at night to report to Fu Jian, saying: "Now that the Jin soldiers are out of food, it is a good opportunity to defeat them. We should launch an attack immediately and cannot let them run away." ."

The arrogant Fu Jian was complacent about capturing Xiangcheng, and he was even more elated when he heard Fu Rong's secret report. That night, Fu Jian left the army in Xiangcheng and quietly led 8,000 light cavalry to rush to Shouyang day and night. After he arrived, he discussed the plan with Fu Rong and decided to send Zhu Xu to the Jin army to persuade him to surrender. Zhu Xu was originally a general who defended Xiangyang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was captured when Xiangyang fell. After Zhu Xu arrived at the Jin camp, instead of persuading him to surrender, he revealed the true situation of the Qin army to Xie Shi and suggested to Xie Shi that he should take advantage of the fact that the troops of the former Qin had not yet gathered together and immediately launch a counterattack. As long as the forward troops were defeated, If it dampens its spirit, the Qin army will not be difficult to defeat. Xie Shi, Xie Xuan and others carefully studied Zhu Xu's secret report and decided to send Liu Laozhi to lead 5,000 Beifu soldiers to attack Luojian at night. Liu Laozhi was a famous brave general of the Beifu Army. During the battle, he beheaded the general Liang Cheng. The Qin army lost its leader and had no intention of fighting again. The Jin army took advantage of the victory and pursued it. Xie Shi led the main force of the Jin army to cross Luojian and set up camp at the foot of Bagong Mountain east of Feishui (now northeast of Shouxian County, Anhui).

News of Luo Jian's defeat reached Shouyang one after another. Fu Jian felt uneasy. He and Fu Rong climbed up to the Shouyang Tower to watch the movements of the Jin army. He looked eastward and saw that the Jin army had a neat lineup and clear banners, and he couldn't help being secretly surprised. He faced the wind and looked northward. In a daze, it seemed that on Bagong Mountain, there were Jin troops all over the mountains and plains. He was very surprised. He turned to Fu Rong and said, "Look, the Jin army has so many troops. They are obviously a strong enemy. How can you say they are a weak army?" He quickly ordered all armies to tightly defend the Feishui defense line. His order was that no one was allowed to cross the water to attack. In fact, there are no Jin troops on Bagong Mountain. It is the north wind that blows the vegetation on the mountain to left and right. Fu Jian was so panicked that he mistakenly believed that the Jin army was practicing martial arts there! This historical fact is the origin of the later idiom "Every tree and grass are all soldiers".

Although the Qin army suffered a defeat in Luojian and suffered some setbacks in its vigor, its numbers were still several times greater than that of the Jin army. The Jin army can only win if it makes a quick decision. Xie Xuan, the general general, sent people to use the provocation method to say to Fu Rong: "The general led the troops deep into our territory, but deployed his formation along the Feishui River. This is a long-term plan. Where is the decisive battle? If you move your position slightly to Wouldn't it be nice to move and make room for the Jin army to cross the Feishui River, and the two armies will decide the outcome?" Fu Rong reported the Jin envoy's request to Fu Jian, and Fu Jian agreed despite the objections of the generals. He retreated his position so that he could make a surprise attack when the Jin army crossed the river and defeat the Jin army in one fell swoop.

On the appointed day, Fu Jian issued an order to the Qin army to break camp and retreat. The Qin army was originally internally unstable and in chaos, and this withdrawal caused even more chaos. Xie Xuan and others led eight thousand cavalry to seize the opportunity to cross the Feishui River and launched a fierce attack. Zhu Xu shouted from behind the formation: "The Qin army is defeated, the Qin army is defeated!" When the Qin army's rear troops heard this, they couldn't tell whether it was true or false, and they scrambled to choose their lives. Fu Rong quickly ran to the back of the formation to prevent the troops from retreating, but was overthrown by the rebel army and died under the sword of the Jin army. Fu Jian was frightened to death when he saw such a huge defeat on the front line. He hurriedly jumped on his horse and fled in confusion among the rebels. The Jin army took advantage of the victory and pursued fiercely. The Qin army trampled on each other, causing many casualties. The surviving Qin officers and soldiers kept running day and night, not even daring to look back. Even when they heard the sound of cranes blowing in the wind, they thought it was the Jin army's pursuit. This is the origin of the later idiom "The roar of the wind and the cranes. It was November at that time, and the weather was severely cold. These Qin soldiers who escaped were panicked, and many died from cold and hunger. Fu Jian himself was also hit. The arrow was wounded. When he fled back to Luoyang, only hundreds of thousands of the original army were defeated.

The Battle of Feishui was the largest war in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms period. . It took only four months for the former Qin Dynasty to collapse from its massive offensive to the decisive battle of Feishui.

After this battle, the relatively stable situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was consolidated, and the economy and culture of Jiangnan further developed. On the contrary, due to Fu Jian's defeat, the former Qin regime collapsed, and the north once again fell into separatist chaos.

In the Battle of Muye, King Jiang Shang and King Wu of Zhou had less than 100,000 to 170,000 people. It is said that the entire army of 700,000 was wiped out

In the Battle of Baiju, Sun Wu, Wu Yuan, and Kelu 3 Ten thousand to 200,000 miles defeated the Chu army and entered Ying in five battles

In the battle of Yin and Jin, Wu Qi defeated the Qin army with 50,000 and 500,000 troops

The battle of Yique and Bai Qi 12 A total of 240,000 to 240,000 people were wiped out

In the Battle of Jimo, Tian Dan was unknown and the Yan army was expelled from Qi State

? In the battle of Dai, Lian Po and Le Cheng defeated the Yan army with 200,000-600,000 troops

Qin and Han Dynasties

In the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu annihilated 200,000-400,000 troops

In the Battle of Pengcheng, Xiang Yu destroyed 200,000 with 30,000-560,000 people

In the Battle of Jingxing, Han Xin destroyed Zhao with 30,000-200,000 people and captured King Zhao Xie

Weishui Han Xin fought tens of thousands - 200,000 to destroy Qi.

In the battle of Kunyang, Liu Xiu had less than 20,000 - 420,000. Wang Yi only led a few thousand people to escape back to Luoyang

Zhu A , The Battle of Linzi? Tens of thousands - more than 200,000 defeated Zhang Bu and equalized

Battle of Chiting, Yu Xu 3,000 - tens of thousands

Three Kingdoms, Two Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties period

In the Battle of Yanzhou, Cao Cao had tens of thousands - 100,000 forced landing of 300,000 people

In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao had 20,000 - more than 100,000 annihilated more than 70,000 people

In the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu had 50,000 people ——More than 200,000 laid the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms

In the Battle of Hefei, Zhang Liao defeated the Wu army from 7,000 to 100,000

In the Battle of Yiling, Lu Xun had 50,000 to 100,000 The Kingdom of Shu declined from then on

In the battle of Liangzhou, Ma Long 3,500 - tens of thousands pacified Liangzhou

The former Qin destroyed the former Yan, and in the battle Wang Meng 60,000 - 300,000 annihilated nearly 200,000 enemies

In the Battle of Feishui, Xie Xuan's 80,000-970,000 people and Fu Jian arrived in Luoyang, leaving only more than 100,000 people.

The Battle of Shayuan, in which Yuwentai's tens of thousands-200,000 people were ambushed. , wiped out more than 80,000 people

Unknown to Wei Xiaokuan in the Battle of Yubi - a battle to defend the city with about 150,000 people, wiped out more than 70,000 people

The Battle of Jinxiang in Zhongwen 8,000 ——100,000 enemy troops were wiped out