Battle of Shuishui: In 383, the Former Qin army was defeated at the Battle of Shuishui, and the north was divided again, and Murong Chui took the opportunity to flee.
In 384, Murong Chui, the champion general of Former Qin Zheng Sanpin and former Yan Emperor, established himself as the King of Yan at Xingyang, and Later Yan was established.
The previous year, the Former Qin army was defeated at the Battle of Shuishui and suffered heavy losses, and of the troops who accompanied Murong Jian, only more than 30,000 people led by Murong Chui were safe and sound, and Murong Jian took more than 1,000 people to join Murong Chui's troops. At this time, Murong Chui's sons and younger brothers persuaded him to take the opportunity to kill Jian Jian and establish himself and revive the Yan state.
However, Murong Chui and Zhi Jian did not do so in the past trust and kindness to him, but surrendered his military power and followed Jian Jian back to Chang'an along the way. Although he did not want to meet with The Sword Soldier of The Yan Kingdom, as the Emperor of the Yan Kingdom, the ideal of reviving the Yan Kingdom had burned in his heart, so he found an excuse to part ways with Fu Jian. He said that he would return to Yecheng (邺城, in present-day Linzhang County, Hebei) to worship his ancestors and at the same time appease the chaos in Hebei, and Jian Jian agreed.
The strategist Quan Yi reminded Jian Jian that Murong Chui was a figure like Han Xin and Bai Qi, and that to release him back to Yan was to return to the mountains. Jian Jian felt that what Quan Yi said was reasonable, and in order to prevent Murong Chui from starting an incident, he arranged for his generals to lead more than 3,000 people to escort Murong Chui, saying that the escort was actually secretly guarded.
At the same time, Jian Jian sent three generals—Shi Yue, Zhang Oyster, and Mao Dang—one to take people to defend Yecheng, one to defend Hezhou, and one to guard Luoyang, just in case of an accident. It's just that Jian Jian himself is short of soldiers, so these three people only bring a few thousand people with them.
Next, murong Chui's first task was to return to Yecheng.
Murong Chui had just set out to run into a problem. Quan Yi ambushed his men under the bridge across the Yellow River and prepared to ambush Murong Chui. Murong Chui realized that there was an ambush, so he deliberately sent people to wear his own clothes and ride his own horses from the bridge, and he took people to find a place where no one was to cross the Yellow River on a grass raft. The ambushers were busy in vain.
Garrisoned at Yecheng was Fu Pi, the fourth son of Jian Jian, and Murong Chui asked someone to deliver a letter to Fu Pi when he was about to arrive at Yecheng. Fu Pi saw murong Chui's sudden return to the north, suspected of betraying Qin, and in order to prevent changes, arranged to meet outside the city.
After Murong Chui saw Fu Pi, he told him in detail about the defeat of the Former Qin army. Fu Pi just received a report that Zhai Bin, a dingzhi man, had rebelled in luoyang, mixed with many Former Yan people, so he asked Murong Chui to help quell the rebellion, and Murong Chui agreed. Fu Pi assigned Murong Chui 2,000 soldiers and sent his general Fu Feilong to lead 1,000 clan cavalry as Murong Chui's deputies to restrain Murong Chui.
Murong Chui wanted to enter Yecheng to worship the ancestral temple, but Fu Pi did not agree. Murong Chui was wearing iron armor and wearing a casual dress outside and wanted to mix with it, but was stopped by the pavilion officials. Murong Chui was furious and killed the pavilion official. When the general Shi Yue heard about this, he thought that Murong Chui's behavior was somewhat abnormal, and concluded that he would rebel against Qin and persuade Fu Pi to kill Murong Chui. Fu Pi felt that Murong Chui had meritorious service in guarding his father At a time when jian jian was in danger, and should not forget his kindness, so he did not agree.
Next, Murong Chui embarked on a second mission, "supporting" Luoyang.
Murong Chui, on the pretext of having fewer soldiers, stagnated in Hanoi (around present-day northern Henan), but in fact was recruiting troops, and he soon recruited 8,000 soldiers.
Murong Chui, who was stationed in Luoyang, sent people to urge Murong Chui to hurry up, so Murong Chui adopted the strategy of his son Murong Linti and fooled Murong Feilong, saying that the enemy was nearby, and that they should march at night and rest during the day, and beat them by surprise. Fei Long thought that what he said was reasonable, so he really did it.
At night, Murong Chui scattered the clan soldiers into the ranks, and then asked his son Murong Bao to lead some of his men to the front, leading the people in the back, beating the drum as a trumpet, and attacking the Feilong in front and behind, resulting in the annihilation of the Feilong and the clan soldiers.
Previously, when Murong Chui left Yecheng, several of his sons and nephews such as Murong Nong and Murong Kai were left in Yecheng as hostages by Fu Pi. At this time, Murong Chui, while gathering his own men and horses, sent people to secretly inform the sons and nephews of Yecheng to flee from Yecheng and go to the Zhao Wei region to raise an army. Murong Chui's army increased to 30,000 men.
Fu Hui sent the general Mao Dang to lead an army to attack Zhai Bin, and as a result, Mao Dang was beheaded by Murong Feng, a former Yan general under Zhai Bin. Zhai Bin's Former Yan generals persuaded Zhai Bin to make Murong Chui an ally after hearing of Murong Chui's uprising, and Zhai Bin agreed, sending people to contact Murong Chui twice, finally convincing Murong Chui and forming an alliance.
After Murong Chui arrived in Luoyang, he originally wanted to trick Fu Hui into going into the city, but Fu Hui knew that Murong Chui had killed Fei Long, so he did not let him enter the city. Murong Chui felt that Luoyang had no danger to defend and that it was better to attack the city of Ye, so he turned around and marched east.
Now, Murong Chui's mission became to capture the city of Yecheng.
Murong's disciples who fled from Yecheng gathered more than 100,000 people, and Fu Pi sent the general Shi Yue to go on a crusade, only to be defeated and beheaded by Murong Chui's son Murong Nong. Former Qin even damaged Mao Dang and Shi Yue, two major generals, and the hearts of the people floated.
Murong Chui led his army straight to Yecheng, and tribes of various ethnic groups that had originally submitted to Former Yan came to join them. In the process of advancing eastward, Murong Chui established himself as the King of Yan when he passed through Xingyang, and changed his era name to Yan Yuan. The year was 384, and history called it Hou Yan.
In 384, Yao Cang, a Qiang people, established himself in Weibei (north of the Wei River, around present-day Shaanxi), proclaiming himself the King of Da Dan Yu and Wannian Qin, with the capital in the north (southeast of present-day Yaozhou District, Tongchuan, Shaanxi), known historically as Later Qin.
Yao Cang was able to establish Later Qin without the support of the Qiang people. The reason why he has such a high prestige among the Qiang people is because of his father Yao Yizhong and his brother Yao Xiang.
Yao Cang was the leader of the Qiang clan and had lived in the Guanlong region for generations. Later, Shi Hu, who was then later the Chancellor of Later Zhao, moved the Qiang to the vicinity of the Later Zhao capital Xiangguo (襄国, in modern Xingtai, Hebei). Yao Cang's father, Yao Yizhong, was made a Fenwu general and the governor of the Western Qiang dynasty as the leader of the Qiang clan, when he was only about 4 years old.
When Yao Cang grew up, he followed his father and brother around to fight. At that time, Later Zhao was replaced by Ran Wei, and Ran Min, the ruler of Ran Wei, slaughtered the Hu people, and Yao Cang followed his father and brother to find a place to live. As the leader of the Qiang clan and the clan leader Gong Hong, his father set his sights on the area of Kansai (west of Hangu Pass).
In order to fight for Kansai, the two sides fought, and Yao Cang's brother Yao Xiang led the army to the battlefield, and the result was defeated.
After Fu Hong's victory, he became king, but was soon poisoned by one of Shi Hu's old generals, and his son Fu Jian occupied Guanlong (關溿宅; around present-day Gansu, Shaanxi) and established Former Qin.
Yao Cang's father died of illness soon after, and before he died, he advised his sons to submit to the Eastern Jin Dynasty and not to think otherwise. As a result, Yao Cang's brother Yao Xiang surrendered to the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was given the title of Da Dan Yu. At that time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was in charge of northern affairs with Yin Hao, who distrusted Yao Xiang and repeatedly sent people to assassinate Yao Xiang, forcing Yao Xiang to rebel against Jin, counterattacking and killing the Jin army led by Yin Hao.
Later, the Eastern Jin general Huan Wen defeated Yao Xiang near Luoyang during the Second Northern Expedition. Yao Xiang needed to find a place to divide, so he aimed at Guanzhong.
But at this time, Guanzhong was already occupied by Former Qin, so Yao Xiang fought with Former Qin again, this time Yao Xiang was defeated and killed, and Yao Cang almost followed him, fortunately, there was a Former Qin Sect Who interceded for Yao Cang, which saved his life, and the person who interceded for him was the later Former Qin Heavenly King Gong Jian.
After Yao Cang surrendered to Former Qin, he mainly followed Fu Jian and became a powerful general under Jian Jian. However, he believed that the Fu and Yao clans were always feuds, so when Zhi Jian wanted to personally conquer the Eastern Jin Dynasty, all the courtiers opposed it, and only a few people such as Yao Cang supported it. Because once Jian Jian was defeated during the conquest, then he had a greater chance of leading the Qiang tribes to stand on their own.
Before leaving, Jian Jian appointed Yao Cang as the general of Long Jun, and personally told him that he had started to establish a career from General Long Jun, and he would not easily do this official to anyone. This said to Yao Cang's mind.
Later, Jian Jian was defeated in the Battle of Shuishui, and the tribes of all ethnic groups rose up one after another to make a fuss about independence. Murong Hong of the Former Yan Dynasty raised an army in Guanzhong, and Jian Jian sent his son Fu Rui to lead 50,000 troops to quell the rebellion, and also matched him with several experienced veterans in the battlefield.
Yao Cang is one of them.
Fu Rui was a brave and resourceful man, and he was very happy, so he immediately wanted to go to war after encountering the army led by Murong Hong. Yao Cang persuaded him that the Xianbei army led by Murong Hong was now anxious to return to his hometown, and blocking the road and intercepting them would anger them, and it would be difficult to deal with when morale was high, so he advised him not to attack easily.
However, Fu Rui just did not listen, and the Former Qin army was killed and defeated after launching an attack. Fu Rui was killed, and Yao Cang felt that he could not confess to Jian Jian, so he tentatively sent his subordinate Chang Shi to apologize to Jian Jian. Unexpectedly, Jian Jian was so angry that he immediately killed this person, and Yao Cang did not dare to return to Jian Jian even more.
Yao Cang absconded from his crime and ran to Weibei, where he was welcomed by the local Hao clan, and the Qiang tribes came to join him, and the long-awaited opportunity finally arrived. Yao Cang, elected by the Hao and Qiang tribesmen, established himself as Da Dan Yu, the King of Qin in ten thousand years, and the Great Reform Yuan Baique, known in history as Later Qin.