Chen Qingzhi, a poor general, has been brave and good at fighting all his life but remains unknown.

History is fair.

But it is not always as clear as we see and think. It is regrettable that the old man of history always seems to like to put a veil on himself. To this extent, perhaps we should not call him an old man, but a woman.

Times make heroes.

But not every hero can encounter the situation that suits him. In the long river of history, there are both bright and shining stars floating on it, and others shining in the surging undercurrent. Although these gravels are often ignored by people, they also contain extraordinary value in the long river of history.

Things are unpredictable. In this unpredictable and chaotic world, there are also a very small number of outstanding people who are unable to realize their talents and ambitions because of the obstacles of the current situation. When they were also pushed to the forefront of the times to accept the scripts that fate had arranged for them, they also used their extraordinary wisdom, courage, and sense of responsibility to independently determine the fate of themselves and the country, smearing immortality on the annals of history for thousands of years. The brilliance is just like the white shadows vaguely visible in the flying smoke and dust on the land of Heluo more than 1,400 years ago, telling us about the passing years...

In the spring of 1999, when I was still a freshman, I read Mr. Tanaka Yoshiki’s ancient Chinese history work "Running Current". I did not know that this book existed before buying "Running River" , I only learned from some sporadic information that Tanaka had written a historical novel set in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Because I am very interested in "The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties", I have always paid close attention to that book. (Later confirmed as "The Wind Soaring Ten Thousand Miles")

When I first looked through it, I saw that it was about ancient Chinese history. Although it was not from the Sui and Tang Dynasties, according to my principle of reading ancient historical novels, it is better to read them in excess than to lack them ( There is also the principle that products produced by Tanaka must be high-quality products), so I bought it without hesitation. After I went back and read it carefully, I felt like I was sweating profusely. The weather wasn't very hot, but I was still sweating. The feelings in my heart at that time were very complicated. I was very excited (I wanted to find someone to talk to as soon as possible), but also very ashamed. This feeling of shame was just like what Mr. Tanaka wrote in the postscript. As a history lover, I had never experienced this before. I really feel ashamed that I know nothing about Chen Qingzhi's existence and experience. Mr. Tanaka is Japanese, and he is ashamed. As a Chinese, I also knew nothing about the existence of Chen Qingzhi before I watched Mr. Tanaka's "Running". Should I be even more ashamed? A general from a poor family

Chen Qingzhi, whose courtesy name was Ziyun, was born in Guoshan, Yixing, which is today the south of Yixing County, Jiangsu Province. In Mr. Tanaka's words, he was a military general who established great achievements, but unfortunately, he was not able to reach the rank of county prince in his lifetime. Although he was also a border defense commander with heavy troops, he did not change the pattern of confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties until his death. From this point of view, the "great cause" has not been established after all. However, his existence was like a breath of fresh wind for the Southern Dynasty, which gave the Southern Dynasty an upper hand in the confrontation with the Northern Dynasty, and the Xiao Liang regime also spent a long period of stability. Sartre once said: "Existence is reasonable." From this point of view, perhaps his existence itself is a kind of achievement.

Chen Qingzhi began to follow Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang, when he was young. In terms of status, he should belong to the category of book boy. Xiao Yan likes to play chess. Every time he plays, he can't bear to let it go. He stays up all night and is almost obsessed with it. The other attendants or sparring partners had long since fallen asleep, but only Chen Qing came at the invitation, which saved Xiao Yan from the boredom of playing music by himself, so Xiao Yan particularly appreciated his young attendant. (Generals in the Southern Dynasties had the right to open mansions. The children raised in the mansion were similar to the retainers during the Warring States Period, and they were trained to serve as their staff when they grew up. Chen Qingzhi and Xiao Yan should have this kind of relationship)

There is a more exciting description in "Running". It is said that Chen Qingzhi has the talent to see through the opponent's flaws or omissions at a glance in the chess game. This cannot be verified in history books, but as an example of Chen Qingzhi's unpredictability An explanation for his talent is one that people are happy to accept.

In 502 AD, Xiao Yan established his capital in Jiankang and appointed Chen Qingzhi, who was only 18 years old at the time, as the chief secretary. The main responsibility of the chief secretary was to be in charge of some documents. According to Chen Qingzhi’s status at the time, this position should As a close official around Xiao Yan, he performed tasks such as conveying a pardon. During his tenure, Chen Qingzhi tried his best to distribute all his salary and property to some soldiers, always waiting for the day when he could serve the imperial court. But after all, he was a commoner from a poor family. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, where people only focused on powerful families, it was very difficult to stand out.

Although Xiao Yan emphasized meritocracy in employing people, this policy could not be implemented well due to the social trends and customs at the time as well as the obstruction of the aristocratic family. Therefore, Chen Qingzhi waited for a full twenty-three years. ! (Note: "Running" describes that Chen Qingzhi participated in the famous Battle of Zhongli in his early twenties. This is not recorded in "Liang History". Perhaps the author wanted to make this rare military strategist debut early! ) The first battle of famous generals

In the sixth year of Xiao Liang, that is, in 525 AD, Yuan Faseng, the governor of Xuzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, failed in his rebellion and asked to surrender in Pengcheng, so Xiao Yan appointed Chen Qingzhi as General Wuwei, and Hu Longya ( "Running" describes the first encounter between Hu Longya and Chen Qingzhi, which is really interesting). Cheng Jingjun led a part of the army to meet Yuan Faseng. This time can be called the first time in Chen Qingzhi's life to lead the team. As the first team of this famous general, the age of 41 is really too old. However, this mission was quite easy. Perhaps Emperor Wu of Liang wanted to let Chen Qing get started with an easy job.

What is a little gratifying is that this "idiot emperor" who was obsessed with Buddhism in the later period was able to discover Chen Qingzhi's leadership talent at that time, and he made an exception in the era when the clan concept was deeply ingrained in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is really a great thing to enable a commoner like Chen Qingzhi who comes from a poor family. Perhaps as Chairman Mao said in the commentary on the Twenty-Five Histories, Emperor Wu of Liang in the early period could indeed be called a heroic figure, but in the later period he was a bit like "heroes are not free because of their fate".

After successfully completing the mission of returning home, Chen Qingzhi was appointed as General Xuanmeng and Commander Wende, and led about 2,000 people to escort King Xiao Zong of Yuzhang into Xuzhou, which had already been taken over. garrison. Xuzhou has always been a battleground for military strategists. Xiao Liang obtained this territory without any effort. His luck was not bad. However, the Northern Wei Dynasty would not give up. They immediately dispatched nearly 20,000 troops headed by two royal family members, An Wang Yuan Yanming and Linhuai Wang Yuan, to station in the Zhi area to stop the Liang army who came to take over Xuzhou.

The first battle was fought at an absolute disadvantage, two thousand versus twenty thousand. If it were an ordinary person, it might have been an Impossible Mission. But for Chen Qingzhi, this was just a training exercise among the many battles in his life where he had defeated more with less. In order to prevent Liang Jun from advancing, An Wang Yuan Yanming sent his general Qiu Daqian (this figure is very interesting, he and Chen Qingzhi seem to be very destined, we will mention him later) to build a camp and cut off Liang Jun's route. However, this camp was quickly destroyed by Chen Qingzhi's attack. The record of this period in the history books is very brief. It only says that Chen Qingzhi "entered into a weak base and was defeated by a drum." The literal explanation is that he approached the enemy's camp and completely defeated the enemy with just a beat of the drum. Back then, when Cao GUI commanded the Battle of Changshao, the Qi people beat the three-way drum, but in the end they were defeated. We can't appreciate Chen Qingzhi's style at that time based on the literal meaning alone. We can only use our own imagination to express it.

However, Xiao Zong, the nominal king of Yuzhang in Liang Jun, is very problematic. His problem is that he always suspects that he is Xiao Baojuan's son. If it is someone else's son, forget it. . But the problem lies precisely in the fact that Xiao Baojuan, also known as Donghunhou, was the last emperor of Xiao Qi. Xiao Baojuan was the first person killed by Xiao Yan when he rebelled against Qi Jianliang. And now that Xiao Zong suspects that he is the crown prince of the previous dynasty, the problem is huge. Emperor Wu of Liang himself also had problems with personnel appointments. He actually sent such an unreliable person to take over a major military town. Was it the idea of ??nepotism that was at work? It's a pity that he regards others as relatives, but they may not accept his love.

After much thought, Xiao Zong felt something was wrong (of course, it may also be the result of the Northern Wei Dynasty sending spies to constantly instigate rebellion). Look at how close it is to the Northern Wei army. Anyway, there is already Xiao Baoyin (Xiao Baoyin) there. Baojuan's younger brother, who may be Xiao Zong's uncle), he might as well surrender himself. He was very open-minded and abandoned his army that night and went to the Northern Wei Dynasty. The commander-in-chief surrendered to the enemy, and the army was naturally in chaos. All the sergeants broke up and fled. Chen Qingzhi had to cut off the pass and retreat overnight, so that part of the army could be saved. Xuzhou, which was picked up in vain, naturally fell back into the hands of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The following year, Anxi General Yuanshu went to Shouchun, allowing Chen Qingzhi to take a holiday (which means the highest agent) and take charge of all military operations. Li Xian, the governor of Yuzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, sent his son Li Changjun to build two cities to resist Liang Jun's attack. Of course, the two cities mentioned here are not as huge as the Nanjing city we usually see. The Forbidden City was built at that time and was similar to a fortress or fortress. This kind of fortress only required a small amount of earth, stone and wood. After it was built, it was not very big, but it was very strong. It was used as a stronghold for the defender to hinder the advance of the attacker, just like what is commonly called a deer.

After Chen Qingzhi arrived, he launched an attack. It is unimaginable how violent his offensive was. What we can know is that Li Xian, the governor of Yuzhou who was the defender at that time, simply could not withstand the attack of Chen Qingzhi's troops. In the end, he had to raise a white flag to surrender (if he had known this, why would he have built a city), and Chen Qingzhi immediately occupied Shouyang City.

In this battle, General Liang captured about fifty-two towns in the Shouchun area, and most of Yuzhou was included in the Southern Dynasty's ruling areas. Chen Qingzhi's contribution was not insignificant, and he was awarded the title of Guanzhong Marquis (nobility). the lower one).

In the first year of Liang Datong, which was 527 AD, Liang general Cao Zhongzong attacked Woyang (now Meng County, Anhui). The Northern Wei Dynasty sent the southern general Changshan Wang Yuanzhao and others with 150,000 horses and infantry to come to the rescue. Their vanguard troops reached Tuojian, about forty miles away from Guoyang. Chen Qingzhi wanted to go to fight. Wei Fang, who was Cao Zhongzong's deputy at the time and joined the army, believed that the forward troops of the Northern Wei Dynasty must be elite cavalry troops. Even if they won, it would not be enough to take credit, but if they lost, it would affect the morale of the entire army, and quoted a quote. The so-called principle of waiting for work in the art of war came to persuade Chen Qingzhi not to attack. But Chen Qingzhi didn't think so. He said very confidently: The troops of the Northern Wei Dynasty came all the way, they were very tired, and they were far away from us. They definitely didn't expect that we would take the initiative to attack them. The troops gathered together, and we took the opportunity to dampen their energy and catch them by surprise. If they were not prepared, they would definitely be defeated by us. And I heard that the camp where the Northern Wei army was stationed was rich in trees, so they would not dare to patrol at night. If you have any further doubts, then I, Chen Qingyi, will lead an army to attack them alone. The leaders at that time, Cao Zhongzong and Wei Fang, were both undecided.

So Chen Qingzhi went on a long-distance attack alone with about 200 cavalrymen under his direct command at the time, and defeated the vanguard of the Northern Wei Dynasty in one fell swoop overnight. forward. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Qingzhi returned to the camp and immediately drove the troops to the gate of Guoyang City with the large army overnight, where they were in a stalemate with the reinforcements of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The siege of Guoyang lasted for a long time (nearly half a year). During this period, nearly hundreds of battles were fought. The morale of the army had been exhausted, and reinforcements from the Northern Wei Dynasty repeatedly arrived. Liang Jun built a camp in the rear, constantly threatening Liang Jun's supply line. Cao Zhongzong, Wei Fang and others were afraid of being attacked from both sides, so they planned to withdraw their troops. After Chen Qingzhi learned about it, he took the festival stick given to him by Emperor Wu of Liang (i.e., a symbol of the festival's identity. This kind of stick can represent the emperor himself on the outside, similar to the later Shang Fang sword), and said loudly in front of the military gate: We all originally It took about a year to come to this place together and cost the country a lot of food, grass and money. However, most of the troops have no fighting spirit and are only planning to retreat in order to seek safety. How can this be a sign of wanting to serve the country with merit and get together to defeat the enemy? I once heard that in the art of war, as long as you put yourself to death and are not afraid of death, you will have hope of survival and victory. Everyone works together and then fight against the enemy together! Now you are discussing the retreat of the class. I have the emperor's secret edict in my hand. If you violate the edict today, I will act in accordance with the instructions in the secret edict. Cao Zhongzong and others could only follow Chen Qingzhi's plan and let him lead the battle.

During the battle, the reinforcements of the Northern Wei Dynasty used leather ropes to surround the crossbars to form a camp, and set up deer antlers and horse blocking stakes in front of the camp, thus building thirteen barracks in a row. In order to defeat these fortresses, Chen Qingzhi led a group of elite troops, each holding a piece of paper in his mouth (so as not to make a sound), to launch a night attack on the fortresses of the Northern Wei Dynasty one night, and captured four of them in one breath. Guoyang Wang Wei, the city's defender, was impressed by Chen Qingzhi's courage and asked to surrender. The remaining nine cities are still heavily armed and heavily defended. So Chen Qingzhi lined up the heads of his prisoners in front of the formation, beat the drums and attacked vigorously. Perhaps he was frightened by the heads in front of the formation, or Chen Qingzhi's attack was too violent, and the remaining nine cities were destroyed. The Wei army immediately collapsed and was completely defeated. After this battle, the chariots and armor were in a mess, and corpses were strewn across the fields. According to historical records at that time, "vortex water swallowed the flow", that is, part of the tributaries of the Huaihe River were blocked.

Liang Gaozu Xiao Yan's attack on Chen Qingzhi this time The conductor greatly praised him and wrote an edict in person saying that he was not a general, nor was he a wealthy family. He was looking at the wind and clouds, so he could think deeply about his strategy and be good at opening the door and welcoming guests, making his reputation on bamboo and silk. , what a man! He is not the descendant of a famous general, nor is he a member of a wealthy family, but in this battle, he thought carefully and made many extraordinary achievements, and finally succeeded in establishing his own merits, turning a poor family into a wealthy family, and making himself a wealthy family. His bravery has been passed down in the annals of history. Isn't this the true nature of a man? Fei Cheng Shuo Feng

At this time, great chaos broke out in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Xiao Baoyin occupied Chang'an in the west in an attempt to restore the hegemony of the Southern Qi Dynasty. Ge Rong, a refugee, had an army of one million, and Er Zhurong, who was recruited by the Northern Wei Dynasty to suppress the rebellion, massacred nearly 2,000 people in the Northern Wei royal family and established a new emperor without authorization. As a result, the Yuan clan members The people were in danger, so they rebelled and surrendered to Nanliang.

In 528 AD, Wang Yuanhao of Beihai in the Northern Wei Dynasty led a part of his troops to surrender to Xiao Yan and asked Xiao Yan to help him become the emperor. The emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty. For strategic reasons, Emperor Wu of Liang believed that this was a good opportunity to expand into Wei territory, so he readily agreed. Once again, Chen Qingzhi was appointed as General Biao Yong (again). A second-rate miscellaneous general) sent Yuan Hao north to Luoyang.

Logically speaking, this was a military operation of considerable scale, but Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty only allowed Chen Qingzhi's 7,000 men to go north alone and did not send troops elsewhere to assist. This makes people doubt Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty's true intention. It is very likely that Emperor Wu of Liang did not want to waste too much energy on this exiled nobleman of the Northern Wei Dynasty. He just wanted to send Chen Qingzhi to lead a small number of troops to deal with it. However, Emperor Wu of Liang's unintentional move this time inadvertently contributed to Chen Qingzhi's personal life being immortal. Wu Xun.

Yuan Hao couldn't wait to ascend the throne and proclaimed himself emperor at the Huan River. He granted Chen Qingzhi an envoy and appointed him as the general of Zhenbei, the protector of the army, and the commander-in-chief of the former army. However, these were of no use because he himself was nothing more than an envoy. He is just a bare-bones emperor. The army set out from the county and immediately captured Yingcheng and advanced to Suiyang City. The Wei general Qiu Daqian who defended the city (haha, we met again, weren't we defeated enough before) had nearly 70,000 troops. After being defeated by Chen Qingzhi last time, he didn't seem to learn his lesson. This time he relied on ten times the strength. Due to the strength of the opponent's troops, nine forts were built to block Chen Qingqian's advance.

Attack, attack continuously, from morning to about four o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Qingzhi had captured three camps. I was convinced, really convinced. This may be a true reflection of Qiu Daqian's heart at that time. Qiu Daqian immediately led his troops to surrender to Chen Qingzhi. The 70,000 troops of the Northern Wei Dynasty were wiped out in one day.

Shortly afterwards, General Wei Zhengdong of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jiyin Wang Yuanhuiye, led the Yulin Army, the royal guard, with nearly 20,000 people to block Chen Qingzhi's troops. He stationed his troops in Kaocheng. This is a city that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The city is surrounded by rivers on all sides, and the city is heavily guarded. It looks very much like Hefei, a military center during the Three Kingdoms period. Chen Qingzhi ordered his subordinates to build a floating fort on the water, and then used the floating fort to raft down the river. They captured the water castle in one fell swoop and captured the enemy general Yuan Huiye alive. In this battle, he obtained 7,800 chariots. Hundreds of vehicles. After that, Chen Qingzhi continued to march northward, pointing unyieldingly at Luoyang. Many cities along the way saw his flag and asked to surrender. Yuan Hao fully realized Chen Qingzhi's ability, and immediately promoted Chen Qingzhi to General of the Guard (this is the highest military rank after the general), governor of Xuzhou, and Duke of Wu.

At the same time, of course, although the civil strife continued, Er Zhurong, who was responsible for quelling the rebellion, was also an outstanding cavalry commander. Under his command, the Northern Wei army defeated Xiao Baoyin and Chang'an successively. The rebel generals from all over the country, and he himself even defeated Ge Rong with 7,000 fine cavalry, and for a time he was also glorious. So, naturally, the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty began to focus on this army, which only had a few thousand troops but insisted on entering Luo.

At this time, Chen Qingzhi's troops were blocked in Rongyang. At that time, Rongyang assembled a mixed formation of nearly 70,000 Yulin troops and garrison troops led by Zuo Pushe Yang Yu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xi'a Wang Yuanqing, and Fujun general Yuan Xianggong. Their army was well-trained and well-equipped. What was even more troublesome was that Rongyang City was extremely dangerous and fortified, and Chen Qingzhi failed to capture it despite repeated attacks. At the same time, on Er Zhurong's order, Wei general Yuan Tianmu led an army to cut off Chen Qingzhi's retreat, and sent his hussar general Er Tumel to lead Hu cavalry (i.e., ethnic minority cavalry units scattered outside the pass). , this kind of troops live by looting and have extremely strong combat effectiveness) 5,000 people. The cavalry general Lu An led the Xiazhou infantry and cavalry mixed army of more than 9,000 people to support Yang Yu; he also asked his right servant to shoot Er Shilong (Er Zhu Rong's younger brother) and the governor of West Jingzhou, Wang Zhuan, led 10,000 cavalry and occupied Hulao Pass, leaving Chen Qingzhi with no way to retreat.

Yuan Tianmu and Er Tumuer formed a pincer attack on Chen Qingzhi one after another. They faced each other and their voices were heard for hundreds of miles. At this time, Xingyang City had not yet been captured, and it was surrounded by elite enemy soldiers. Anyone else would probably have to wait for death, and the victorious troops who had been following Chen Qingzhi through life and death also felt the fear of death for the first time. Approaching, the army was filled with an atmosphere of despair and uneasiness. When Chen Qingzhi saw this situation, he loudly said to the sergeants: We have conquered many cities and invaded land since our departure. Some of the enemy troops you have annihilated along the way are other people's fathers, and some are other people's brothers and sisters. This is It is also incalculable. The troops assembled by Yuan Tianmu all regard us as enemies. We only have 7,000 people, but the enemy has nearly 300,000 people. Now that things have come to this, we don’t need to think about how to survive anymore. I don't think we can compete with the enemy's cavalry on the plains. We must wait until they arrive to conquer the city fortress in front of us. Don't hesitate and panic. That will only lead to self-destruction! So he personally beat the drums to attack the city. As soon as the war drums came down, the soldiers bravely climbed onto the city. Song Jingxiu, a warrior from Dongyang, and Yu Tianmin from Yixing climbed up the tower first, and then captured Rongyang City.

It didn’t take long for the reinforcements from the Northern Wei Dynasty to gather and surround Rongyang City. Surprisingly, Chen Qingzhi did not choose to stand firm, but unexpectedly led three thousand cavalry back to the city to fight against the Wei army. Back then, Han Xin fought against the odds and became famous all over the world. But today, Chen Qingzhi defeated 3,000 against 200,000. We can't even imagine what kind of unparalleled showdown this was! The great cavalry commander Hannibal only faced an enemy twice as many as himself in the Battle of Cannae, and the number and combat effectiveness of Hannibal's cavalry at that time were far superior to the opponent's.

Chen Qingzhi's era was an era when northerners were good at riding and southerners were good at boating. The army of the Northern Wei Dynasty was composed of the nomadic Xianbei people, so the cavalry's combat effectiveness was naturally considerable, while the south took advantage of the convenience of boating on the Huaihe and Yangtze Rivers. The conditions were comparable to the Northern Army, but the cavalry was also weaker than the Northern Army. Therefore, when it comes to frontal combat on land, the Northern Wei Dynasty has always had the upper hand. What's more, in this decisive battle, there was a tenfold difference in numbers between the two armies.