The Eastern Jin Dynasty was partial to the southeast of An, and then there were Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, these southern dynastic regimes, although these dynasties carried out the Northern Expedition, but failed to restore the Central Plains and achieve unification. The Chen Dynasty was the last regime of the Southern Dynasty, which carried out the last Northern Expedition of the Southern Dynasty, but failed to achieve victory with the strength of the whole country, and the first general in the world was defeated and captured, and the most elite troops in the country were completely destroyed. So what kind of battle is this?
It happened in 577, when the situation in the world changed, and the Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong personally marched and destroyed the Northern Qi regime. When the news reached the south, Chen Xuandi chen was very happy, he thought that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he ordered the Northern Expedition and sent Wu Mingche, the first general of the world, to lead the army! Who is this Wu Mingche? Why is he called the number one general in the world?
It turned out that Wu Mingche was born into a family of official eunuchs, his grandfather was the Taishou of Southern Qi, and his father was a general of the Liang Dynasty. In the later period of Emperor Wu of Liang, there was the Hou Jing Rebellion, and Chen Baxian, while guarding Jingkou, had a conversation with Wu Mingche, and he found that this person was not only proficient in the art of war and clear about current affairs, but also good at astronomy, loneliness, and the art of concealment, so he summoned him to his command and "awarded general Rong Zhao and the history of the Anzhou Assassination". After that, Wu Mingche served Chen Baxian, Chen Wendi, Chen Xuandi, and Chen Xuan.
During this period, Wu Mingche attacked Northern Qi, attacked Western Liang, and put an end to civil unrest, which can be said to have made many military achievements and established his status as a famous general. In 573, Emperor Xuan of Chen decided to go on the Northern Expedition, and when discussing the selection of the main general, Shangshu Zuo's servant Xu Ling strongly recommended Wu Mingche, believing that "Wu Mingche's family is in Huaizuo, and he knows the customs of Pi, and will slightly talent, and there is no one who has passed it today." After that, Wu Mingche led more than 100,000 troops in the Northern Expedition, attacking invincible and invincible along the way, breaking hundreds of thousands of Northern Qi troops and recovering the Huai River area in one fell swoop.
With the demise of Northern Qi, Emperor Xuan of Chen thought that the opportunity had come again, so he raised an army again to the Northern Expedition. Don't look at Wu Mingche only 30,000 people, but he led the most elite troops of the Chen Dynasty, each of which was experienced in hundreds of battles. Wu Mingche led his troops to the city of Xuzhou, and the defender of Xuzhou would be Liang Shiyan of Northern Zhou, and the two fought many battles, and Liang Shiyan was defeated, so he did not dare to fight, so he had to hold the city. In order to break through the city of Xuzhou, Wu Mingche "swept the clear water to irrigate the city, and the ring boats were under the city, and the attack was very urgent."
The trick of flooding the city with water was used by Wu Mingche when he attacked Northern Qi in that year, and the result was that the Northern Qi army was greatly destroyed. When Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou heard the news, he quickly sent reinforcements, "commanding the track as the commander-in-chief of the march and leading the armies to the rescue." Learning the lesson of Northern Qi's failure, Wang Lu wanted to treat his body in the way of others, "diving into huaikou with clear water, erecting more large logs, using iron locks to penetrate the wheels, and cutting off the flow of water to cut off its ship's path." After Wu Mingche heard the news, he knew that the situation was not good.
Wu Mingche first asked Xiao Maha to lead thousands of cavalry to retreat first, and at the same time dug the river embankment, intending to take advantage of the opportunity of the river's surge to lead 30,000 infantry to retreat by boat. However, when they arrived at the clearing, the "water was gradually weakening" and the warship could not travel at all. At this moment, the Northern Zhou army arrived, and after a melee between the two sides, the Chen Dynasty army was completely destroyed, and Wu Mingche was defeated and captured. Although Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty made Wu Mingche the Duke of Huaide County, he died in anger.
After this war, Chen Guo's elite was lost, and he was no longer able to carry out the Northern Expedition, "so that the realm was lost, Jinling was weak, And Zhenming fell, and the cover was gradually destroyed." Later generations believe that Wu Mingche, like Guan Yu, "those who do not defeat the end in the late, mostly lose their ability to be arrogant and weak enemies", all because of their pride and light enemies in their later years. The Song Dynasty set up a martial temple to enshrine seventy-two famous generals, including Wu Mingche, the captured first general of the Chen Kingdom.
References: 1. "Book of Chen"; 2. "Book of Zhou"; 3. "Zizhi Tongjian"