Yuan Ying was a famous general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who ruled the army strictly, was clever and agile, and was good at planning, and he assisted Gao Zu in repeatedly breaking the Qi army and making several contributions to the expansion of northern Wei territory. Amazingly, he had staged such a miracle in leading the army in battle: after receiving the holy decree of the Banshi to return to the pilgrimage, he actually wrote a letter telling the enemy that he was going to withdraw his troops, which made the enemy suffer a lot.
In 494, Yuan Yingsong asked Gao Zu to lead an army against Xiao Luan, the Qi Ming Emperor in Han. When the march reached depression, the Qi general Xiao Yi sent Liang Jiqun and other 20,000 troops to block the attack. Liang Jiqun and others took the mountain as the boundary, built a fence in five places and camped in the village, condescending to the Yuanying military camp.
Commander Yuanying plotted with the generals: "The Qi army is stationed and scattered, there is no mutual ventilation, the general has no prestige, the soldiers are sluggish against each other, and they do not know how to obey orders." If I were to select elite soldiers and concentrate on attacking one of the barracks, the other battalions would certainly protect themselves and would not go to the rescue. Once victorious, the other barracks were bound to retreat in a panic. The crowd agreed.
Yuanying divided the selected soldiers into three routes, and under the cover of night, they joined forces from the mountains, water's edge, and land to attack Liang Jiqun's Chinese army. For a moment, people shouted horses and roared, and the flames soared into the sky.
Liang Jiqun sent people to contact the other three villages and ordered them to cover up the Yuanying camp in order to solve the crisis of the Chinese army's Dazhai.
As Yuanying expected, the other three villages stood still and watched their defeat. Yuan Ying attacked the Chinese army Dazhai, killed more than 3,000 Qi troops, captured more than 700 people, and captured Liang Jiqun alive.
The other camp guards saw that the Chinese army had been broken, and even at night the camp fled to Nanzheng (南郑, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi). Yuan Ying sent elite soldiers to pursue them lightly.
When Xiao Luan heard the report, he sent the general Jiang Xiu to lead his troops to intercept it. Jiang Xiu could not win, and asked Xiao Luan to increase his troops.
When Yuan Ying learned of this news, he led more than a thousand cavalry to ambush on the side of the road. Seeing Jiang Xiu's reinforcements coming, Yuan Ying's soldiers divided into two routes, attacking back and forth in a surprise attack, forcing Jiang Xiu's reinforcements to scatter and flee.
Just as Yuan Yingbu was happily cleaning up the battlefield, the second group of people and horses sent by Xiao Luan arrived again. Yuan Yingbu could not imagine that Xiao Luanyi had sent troops to come, and everyone was very frightened. The enemy is outnumbered, the disparity in strength, and the continuous fighting, the number of people is trapped and the horses are scarce, and it is no longer suitable for another war.
Yuan Ying saw that the situation was unfavorable, and if it was not calculated, it might be completely destroyed. Therefore, Yuanying calmly rode his war horse, climbed the high slope, stared at the speeding Qi army, and then turned around and spoke to the generals who followed him, pointing to the flag of the Qi army and pointing to his own team, as if he was allocating troops.
Qi Jun originally wanted to capture Yuanying alive in one fell swoop, but seeing that he was calm and unhurried, without any fear, they all thought that he had an ambush and did not dare to come forward easily.
Yuan Ying saw the Qi army's plan, retreated to southern Zheng, and commanded his generals to quickly pursue. Seeing that the danger had passed, the generals all scrambled to take the lead, chased after the army, and then surrounded Southern Zheng.
During the siege of Southern Zheng, Xiao Yi repeatedly recruited troops to relieve the siege, but was intercepted and defeated by Yuan Ying.
The two sides fought many times under Nanzheng City. The Southern Zheng garrison relied on the soldiers to have enough food, the city was strong, and the imperial equipment was abundant, and it and Yuan Ying were deadlocked for more than 90 days.
When Gao Zu saw that Yuanying had delayed attacking the city of Southern Zheng for more than three months, and that the generals were homesick and war-weary, he sent emissaries to summon him to return to the dynasty immediately.
Yuan Ying received an edict ordering all the soldiers not to dismantle the camp, and to arrange for some elite soldiers to cover the old and weak soldiers to withdraw first, and to lead other elites to break off the rear, so as to prevent the Qi army from taking the opportunity to cover up.
Before leaving, Yuanying wrote a farewell letter and asked someone to send it to Xiao Yi, informing him that he had decided to withdraw his troops. The generals dissuaded the manager one after another, believing that this was not possible.
Yuanying said to everyone: "Xiao Yi thought that I could not attack Nanzheng for a long time, and Wrote the farewell letter with the idea of calculating him, in order to let him lead the troops out of the city, and then set up an ambush to defeat him." Then he will not go out of the city to cover up. If I quietly retreat if I don't write a letter, he will conclude that I have retreated in vain, and I will inevitably take the opportunity to lead the troops to pursue and kill me. At that time, far from escaping, we may well be wiped out..."
As Yuanying expected, Xiao Yi received a farewell letter, and indeed hesitated, thinking that Yuanying had deceived him and let him go out of the city. He ascended the city tower, and in the distance, the battle flag of the Yuanying military camp fluttered in the wind, and the gate of the village was closed tightly, silently.
Xiao Yi said to the counselor, "The book of soldiers says that soldiers are not tired of deception. He deliberately tricked me into thinking about me and ignored him. Yuanying had been withdrawing for a day, and the city gate of Nanzheng had never dared to open.
Two days later, Xiao Yi received a report from the spies, and only then did he know that Yuanying had really withdrawn his troops, and he was so angry that he sent elite light horses to pursue him day and night.
After Xiao Yi's pursuers caught up with Yuan Ying, Yuan Ying personally went to the palace and engaged in a fierce battle with other soldiers and Xiao Yi's pursuers. Yuan Ying and the generals struggled to swing their long swords to cut the legs of the pursuing soldiers, forcing their advantages into disadvantages, and did not dare to fight forward.
After four days and four nights of this, Yuan Ying estimated that the old and weak soldiers of the former army would be out of danger, so he ordered the soldiers behind the palace to fly on their horses and go away. Xiao Yi's pursuers watched them return on horseback, and they did not dare to chase them anymore, so they had to return to Nanzheng to report.
Yuan Ying, with his superhuman wisdom, led the conquest army to retreat safely, and was rewarded by Gao Zu and was promoted to the rank of Grand General of Annam, and was given the title of Guangwu Bo.
A modern scholar commented on Yuanying: The use of soldiers can break the norm, there are often unexpected high opinions, and victories in repeated dangers are used, which is precisely the cleverness of Yuanying's use of troops.