Former Qin was the most powerful northern power during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, realized the great unification of the north, and once regained control of the western region, the powerful Former Qin became the opponent of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, for the strong lord Jian Jian, he did not want to stop the pace of Former Qin's rapid expansion, so he did not listen to Wang Meng's advice, insisted on starting a war with the Eastern Jin Dynasty, everyone knows that in the eighth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (383 AD), the Battle of Shuishui broke out between the two sides.
However, before that, Former Qin and eastern Jin had a fierce war, which was also the intention of Jian Jian to conquer the important town of Xiangyang in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and then in the land of Huainan, to achieve the strategy of encroaching on the Eastern Jin Dynasty and even destroying the Jin in one fell swoop, in the early stage of this battle, 170,000 troops were gathered, and there were three emperors among the generals participating in the battle, Murong Wei (Former Yan Emperor, who was captured by Former Qin), Murong Chui (Later Yan founding monarch), and Yao Cang (Later Qin founding emperor).
In 376, after Former Qin attacked Former Liang and the Daiguo, in the third year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (378 AD), he mobilized troops to the south, and the initial strategic goal was Xiangyang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
At this time, Wang Meng had passed away, former Qin had no one to stop the pace of Jian Jian's conquest of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, according to Wang Meng's plan, although Former Qin achieved the unification of the north and the national strength was strong, it should not be ignored that the forces within Former Qin were not completely subordinate to Jian Jian, if they fought with the Eastern Jin Dynasty, they could not destroy the country in one fell swoop, and former Qin, which had consumed its national strength in the war with the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was bound to fall into a state of disintegration, and after the Battle of Shuishui, it also proved Wang Meng's concern.
It was only Former Qin's rapid expansion, coupled with Jian Jian's insurmountable ambitions, that forced him to speed up the war against the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and in February 378, after having already captured liang yi'erzhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Former Qin began its first large-scale conquest of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Book of Jin. The Records of Jian Jian (苻健載記) sent his Shangshu Ling Pi (苻丕) to lead Sima Murong Wei (司馬慕容暐) and Gou Cang (苟苌) to ride 70,000 Kou Xiangyang on foot. Yang An made Fan Deng's people as the forwards, Tun Riding Lieutenant Shi Yue led a fine horse out of Luyang Pass, Murong Chui and Yao Cang came from Nanxiang, and Gou Chi and Wang Xian, who were strong, advanced from Wudang and hanyang.
The Former Qin army totaled 170,000, with Shi Yue leading his troops out of LuyangGuan (跃阳關, in present-day Pinggaocheng Village, fourteen miles southwest of Lushan County, Henan), Murong Chui and Yao Chang leading his troops out of Nanxiang (南乡, in present-day southwest of Huaichuan County, Henan), and Gou Chi and others leading an army out of Wudang Commandery (武d郡, northwest of present-day Danjiangkou, Hubei).
It can be seen that Former Qin's large army came from the direction of Luoyang on the one hand, and the other two roads were advancing through the middle of the Han Dynasty, and the three large armies formed a pinch attack on Xiangyang.
At that time, it was Huan Chong, the younger brother of Huan Wen, who was in charge of the defense of the Jingxiang land of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and after he took office, the strategic deployment he made was to move the "headquarters" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the land of Jingxiang south because of fear of the Former Qin military situation, from Jiangling (present-day Jingzhou City) to Shangming (present-day northern Songzi County, Hubei).
Book of Jin. Huan Chong Chuan" and the soldiers are tricky, showing weakness, now it is advisable to focus on the south of the river and lightly on the north of the river. The boundary of Nanping Xiaoling County, the place name is Shangming, the field is well-creamed, and it can be a soldier.
The reason given by Huan Chong was that he showed weakness to the enemy and moved the seat of government from Jiangling in the north of the Yangtze River to Shangming in the south of the river, and also said that the land here was fertile and could be used to supply military supplies, and Huan Chong's strategic deployment resulted in the fact that the main forces of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's defense line in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were mostly concentrated south of the Yangtze River, while Xiangyang was in the north of the river and far from the Shangming.
It can be said that Huan Chong's strategic changes directly weakened Xiangyang's defensive ability and the ability to obtain rear support in times of crisis, which is why Former Qin could attack the south and besiege Xiangyang.
In this case, in the face of the attack of the Former Qin army, the Xiangyang defender Zhu Xu was also a little careless, and when the current Qin army was already north of the Han River, it did not make much preparation, and Zhu Xu's carelessness also caused the later loss of Xiangyang.
Zhu Xu believed that in the case that the Former Qin army did not prepare enough ships, it was not enough to cross the river on a large scale, so it did not fortify along the river, but did not expect that Shi Yue led a light horse raid, Zhu Xu was afraid, and the Jin army that remained in Xiangyang lost the Hanshui defense line in the north and could only retreat to Xiangyang City.
Book of Jin. The Preface to the Book of Jian Jian was terrified and held on to the Middle City. The more they attacked, they captured more than 100 ships to help the army. Pi led the generals to attack Zhongcheng, and sent Gou Chi, Shi Yue, and Mao Dang to Gangneung with a crowd of 50,000 people.
Zhu Xu led his troops to retreat to xiangyang Zhongcheng, the outer city was conquered by Shi Yue, captured the ships of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Former Qin army was able to quickly cross the Han River and besiege xiangyang city, while Qiu Pi sent an army to defend Jiangling to block the main force of the Eastern Jin Dynasty from rushing to Xiangyang.
In the face of the Former Qin army besieging Xiangyang, Huan Chong was powerless to support, Huan Chong, who had 70,000 troops in his hand, feared the Former Qin army and did not dare to go north, and could only retreat to Shangming, so Zhu Xu's troops held Xiangyang for more than a year, and did not get the support of the main Jin army in the rear, and could only fight alone, which was also the reason why Xiangyang was captured.
After the Jin army was at a disadvantage in the early stages of the war, the army was trapped in the isolated city, and at first Zhu Xu's mother also found loopholes in the city's defenses. Zhu Xu's mother, Han Shi, found that the northwestern city defense of Xiangyang was the easiest to attack by the Former Qin army, so she took the women in the city and re-strengthened the city wall, and sure enough, the Former Qin army did choose to attack the northwest corner.
Of course, this did not affect the overall situation of the war, Zhu Xu played the role of the backbone of the defensive war, a year-long defensive battle, in the absence of support, the Former Qin army has been unable to conquer Xiangyang City, and Jian Jian once set a deadline for the front line.
Book of Jin. Those who are not successful in the spring, Ru can cut himself, and it is not enough to meet wuye again.
This was what Jian Jian said to Gong Pi, at that time, because of the stalemate on the front line, there were many people in Former Qin who impeached Zhi Pi, saying that he had done nothing in vain and should be punished, and Jian Jian naturally had some protection for his son, but he could not completely ignore the opinions of the ministers of the DPRK.
Therefore, Jian Jian could only give a death order to Gong Pi, and he had to conquer Xiangyang in the spring of the following year, that is, in the fourth year of Taiyuan (379). This also caused The Pi to step up the siege in the late stages of the siege.
At the same time, there were traitors in Xiangyang City, before Zhu Xu was because of carelessness, and Ling Shiyue led a light horse to quickly pass through the Han River and reach Xiangyang City, causing the Jin army to defend chaotically and lose the outer city, and this time, it was also his carelessness.
Book of Jin. The preface to the Zhu Preface is tired of fighting thieves, people are tired, and the thieves retreat a little farther, suspected of not coming, the garrison is not careful, supervising Li Bo to protect the secret and corresponding to the thieves, Xiangyang is lost, and the order is trapped in Jianjian.
Because of the nearly one-year defensive battle, the Jin generals were already tired, at this time the Former Qin army retreated, giving the Xiangyang defenders a chance to breathe, and Zhu Xu misjudged that Former Qin may have withdrawn from the army, seeing that the defensive battle was about to end, he relaxed his vigilance.
As everyone knows, this is a crisis, Li Bohu in Xiangyang City fornicated with the enemy army, when Former Qin suddenly came back to the horse gun, Li Bohu did the internal response, Xiangyang City thus broke the city, interestingly, after Li Bohu was destroyed in the city, Jian Jian was killed because of his disloyalty, but the city was destroyed and captured Zhu Xu was reused.
Zhu Xu later returned to Jin again, and in the Battle of Shuishui, he sent Xie Shi false information to the Former Qin army in time, and originally Zhu Xu asked Zhu Xu to persuade Xie Shi to surrender, but the result became a point for the Jin army to counterattack. Zhu Xu revealed that the Former Qin army had not yet completed the assembly, which made Xie Shi think of taking the initiative to attack, and there was a situation in which the Jin army crossed the river and the Former Qin army collapsed.
Xiangyang fell, the eastern Jin Dynasty Yangtze River defense line has been poked out of a hole, at this time Former Qin did not stop the offensive, but in the Huainan battlefield, once again opened the situation.
Book of Jin. Jian Jian then sent his generals Touhou to lead the right generals Mao Dang, Hou Ban Mao Sheng, and Lingjiang Shao Bao to ride 70,000 Kou Huaiyin and Xuyi.
Former Qin forces marched south to attack Huaiyin (present-day Huaiyin County, Jiangsu) and Xuyi (眙眙, in present-day Xuyi County, Jiangsu), and this time Zhijian's intention was more obvious, that is, to break through the Jiankang defense line of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and try to destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty in one fell swoop.
However, here the Former Qin army encountered great obstacles, because it was Xie Shi who was stationed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, not the Huan Chong who was afraid of war, and Xie Xuan trained troops in Guangling before the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Former Qin launched a large-scale war, gathered the people north of Huainan, and formed the Famous Beifu Army, which became the strongest army in the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time.
Book of Jin. Xie Xuan's biography "Xuan Then he asked for difficulties from Guangling West. He Qian relieved Tian Luowei, entered the white horse, fought with the thieves, broke it, and beheaded his pseudo-general Du Yan. Because of the repeated attack, it is broken. Behead its pseudo-general Shao Bao. Super, difficult to retreat. Xuan led He Qian, Dai, and Tian Luo to chase after him, fought at Junchuan, and restored the great destruction. Xuan joined the army of Liu Gaozhi to attack the floating and white ships, and supervised Zhuge Kan and Shan Father ordered Li Du to break his ships. It is difficult to go north at the same rate, only to be spared. Therefore, Pengcheng was dismissed and Xia Pi Ershu was dismissed.
In the face of the Former Qin army's large-scale march southward, Xie Xuan led his troops to attack, and won all four battles, severely damaging the Former Qin army, and thwarting Jianjian's intention to conquer Jiankang in one fell swoop and destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In general, the war conflict between Former Qin and Eastern Jin is inevitable, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, as an orthodox dynasty, cannot recognize the status of Former Qin, will not be in the same position as Former Qin, and will not submit to Former Qin, which Is also known to Former Qin, and Former Qin has successively destroyed the northern countries and established a dynasty of northern unification in less than 10 years, and it is also impossible to tolerate the existence of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
However, Jian Jian could not follow Wang Meng's strategy of seeking stability and help, and was anxious to start a war with the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and in the first large-scale war, the Former Qin army besieged Xiangyang for nearly a year in the case of Huan Chong's fear of war, and with the help of the Jin rebel generals, captured Xiangyang, achieving the purpose of severely damaging the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
But in the Huainan battlefield, the Former Qin army was defeated by the powerful Beifu army, it can be said that the situation is like this, Jian Jian should know that the Eastern Jin Dynasty is not a weak opponent, coupled with the Eastern Jin Dynasty along the Yangtze River to supplement the defense, Former Qin wants to open up the situation from the overall situation is not an easy task, should Xu Tu change in, but Jian Jian did not have the patience, and eventually led to the fiasco of the Battle of Shuishui.
References to the Book of Jin. Zhu Shu biography", Book of Jin. Xie Xuanchuan", "Book of Jin. Huan Chong Biography", Book of Jin. Records of Jian Jian