In the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Liu Yu is considered to be a heroic figure who opened up this era. His prowess was largely admired by many historians, and he became a representative of heroic figures in many poems of later generations of literati. Liu Yu experienced countless wars in the north and south during his lifetime, made great military achievements, and established half of the Southern Dynasty Liu Song Dynasty. In these wars, Liu Yu's suppression of Lu Xunxu's rebellion was a turning point in his political career and the beginning of his complete control of the military and political power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty court. However, in the process, Liu Yu was at a disadvantage in the war situation, and even faced the dangerous situation of Lu Xunxu's 100,000-strong army besieging Jiankang. However, he reversed the situation of the war and finally won the war, which was amazing.
Many literati in later generations studied Liu Yu's life and came to various conclusions about each of his wars. In the discussion about Liu Yu's pacification of Lu Xun's rebellion, people have drawn various conclusions about Liu Yu's victory and Lu Xun's defeat. Some people believe that Liu Yu's military ability is excellent, and he can counterattack in a war with an outnumbered enemy. Some people also believe that Lu Xun was not resolute in his attack, did not follow Xu Daofu's advice, and launched an attack when Liu Yu's foothold was unstable, and the resulting strategic mistakes led to their defeat. However, after carefully studying that period of historical data, it was found that these two statements were actually the wishful thinking of the literati. The fundamental reason for Lu Xun's failure was the great trouble left by Lu Xun's obedience to Xu Daofu's advice.
Although Liu Yu's military ability was outstanding, it did not reflect too strong a strategy and tactics in the process of suppressing Lu Xunxu's rebels. It can be said that this war is a decent war, defending when it is time to defend, and counterattacking when it is time to counterattack. As long as the leading general did not make a mistake, the probability of Lu Xunxu's victory was not high. Even if Lu Xun followed Xu Daofu's advice and took advantage of Liu Yu's unstable foothold in Jiankang to launch an attack and seize the lead in the war, it would be almost impossible to win the war, and it would only bring some trouble to Liu Yu. When people in the world evaluate this war, they always take into account the disparity in strength between inside and outside Jiankang City, but ignore the hidden dangers left by Liu Yu's elite troops that are moving south and Lu Xunxu's road to the north.
The Rebellion of Lu Xunxu was one of the most important rebellions in the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it was also the internal turmoil that consumed the vitality of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This unrest was a continuation of the Rebellion of Sun En's Wudou Midao, a rebellion launched by the remnants of Wudou Midao taking advantage of Liu Yu's northern campaign against Southern Yan and the emptiness of the Eastern Jin capital Jiankang's troops. Sun En and Lu Xun were both sons of the northern eunuch family, and Lu Xun was born from the famous Fanyang Lu clan and was Sun En's brother-in-law. Due to the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Wuhu Chaohua, a large number of northern Shi clan door valves went south, and conflicts of interest arose with the local Shi clan door valves in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The Sun En family believed in the Wudou Rice Dao for generations, and on this basis, they drew together a large number of middle- and lower-class civilians in the Eastern Jin Dynasty society and launched a rebellion against the southeast coast of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Sun En's unrest was eventually defeated by the Beifu soldiers led by Liu Yu, Sun En was forced to commit suicide by throwing himself into the sea, and Lu Xun and Xu Daofu fled to Southern Yue with the remnants. Because the Huanxuan Rebellion had just been put in a pan and the Eastern Jin court was unstable internally, it did not send troops to suppress the remnants of Lu Xun and Xu Daofu, and recruited these rebels. Lu Xun was given the title of General of Zhengyu, General of the Assassins of Guangzhou, and General of Pingyue Zhonglang, and his brother-in-law Xu Daofu was given the title of Shixing Xiang. After that, Liu Yu seized the opportunity of the northern Qin falling into civil unrest, and the new emperor Murong Chao of Southern Yan sent troops north to destroy Southern Yan in one fell swoop and seize a large amount of northern territory. In the process, Liu Yu took away his elite in the Capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiankang, leaving the Jiankang army empty and leaving an opportunity for Lu Xunxu to launch another rebellion.
When Lu Xunxu launched the rebellion, it was when Liu Yuping's Southern Yan War was coming to an end, at this time the Northern War was not over, and the Jiankang army was empty, which was the number of times when the rebellion was launched. Lu Xun xu Daofu also knew that Liu Yu would not let them go, so he dared to act before Liu Yu returned to Jiankang, and caught the Eastern Jin Dynasty by surprise. At that time, the rebels from Southern Guangdong divided their troops into two routes, and along the way, the eastern Jin army in the south was defeated one after another. The Eastern Jin Dynasty General He Wujie and the Jingzhou Assassin Liu Daogui were defeated at Changsha, which led the rebel commanders to drive straight in and approach the southern town of Jiangling. The Eastern Jin Dynasty sent Liu Yi, who was equally famous to Liu Yu, to lead troops south to block the rebels, but was defeated by the rebels at Sangluo Prefecture, and only a few hundred subordinates fled back to Jiankang with him.
In the process of moving north, the rebel army was like a bamboo, and its power was rapidly expanded. It is said that when the rebels arrived in Jiangning, the warships were already covering the sky, and the army reached 100,000 people. At that time, Jiankang had less than 10,000 defenders, which not only had a huge disparity in strength, but also was fearful. When Liu Yu received this news, Liu Yi had already sent troops to the south, and he could not care less about the mess that had just been pacified in Southern Yan, and led the guards to the south quickly.
In order to stabilize the overall situation of the imperial court, he only took dozens of guards to "cross the river in a single boat and go straight to Jingkou", which stabilized the unfavorable situation of the people around Jiankang. At this time, there were disputes within the Eastern Jin court and the rebels, and the direction of the war was also changed. There was a debate within the Eastern Jin Dynasty about whether the emperor would cross the river and flee north, while the rebels were debating whether to take advantage of Liu Yu's unstable return to attack Jiankang.
After some debate, Liu Yuli insisted on waiting for help at Jiankang, and at the same time urgently summoned the northern army against Southern Yan to return to help. Lu Xun, on the other hand, rejected Xu Daofu's suggestion to attack Jiankang first, intending to attack outside Jiankang City before launching an attack after there was chaos in Jiankang. Lu Xun's hesitation gave Liu Yu time to fully prepare for the defense, and it also became the beginning of the rebels' transition from attack to defense. Due to the missed favorable fighters, Liu Yu was able to stand firmly and steadily, so that the rebels could not attack Jiankang for a long time. Coupled with Liu Yu's northern elites, they have gradually reversed the strength of both sides. When Liu Yu's strength overwhelmed the rebels, Lu Xun began to retreat and planned to hold on to Jiangling. Liu Yu then led a large army south to encircle and suppress the rebels, and Lu Xun and Xu Daofu were defeated and killed.
Later generations summed up the victory of Liu Yu's counterattack in this war, and the reason why Lu Xunxu's 100,000-strong army failed to attack Jiankang, which is believed to be that Lu Xun did not take advantage of the unstable foothold of Liu Yu's return army to launch a strong attack, and took Jiankang in one fell swoop, and he could win the war. In fact, from the perspective of the historical environment at that time, this statement is very far-fetched. Except for Xu Daofu, who came up with this idea, who thinks so, others have not offered a supportive attitude in this regard. Judging from the changes in the overall war situation, the defeat of Lu Xun and Xu Daofu had left a big problem when they went north. Although Lu Xun realized this problem after defeating Liu Yi, he did not adhere to the strategy of sticking to Jiangling in place, which eventually led to the end of the rebel army being attacked and defeated by Liu Yu.
If you follow Xu Daofu's advice to attack Jiankang first, what will be the result? Judging from the war situation at that time, it was no problem for the rebels to lay siege to Jiankang, but it could not eliminate the living forces of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The elite of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were all led north by Liu Yu to fight against Southern Yan, and at that time Jiankang had less than 10,000 guards, plus thousands of guards brought back by Liu Yu. With just this 10,000 people, even if Liu Yu's guards were the elite of the Beifu Army, it was impossible to confront the 100,000 rebels. In this situation, Liu Yu would never choose to stick to Jiankang, but let the army take himself and the emperor across the river and retreat north, and meet the elite army supported by the south. These armies are all elite of the Beifu Army, with a strength of nearly 100,000 troops, and their morale and combat effectiveness are not comparable to those of the rebels.
According to this development, although the rebels were able to obtain Jiankang, they could not eliminate the living forces of Liu Yu and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. These rebels were hastily developed by Lu Xun and Xu Daofu in the process of going north, and the real elite was very limited, most of them were rabble-rousers. They fought a good battle with the wind, and faced the elite of the Northern Province Army, they only had a touch of collapse. Moreover, the old lairs of these rebels are far away in southern Guangdong, and they have not developed their own base areas along the way, and their logistical supplies all rely on war to feed the war. In fact, when they besieged Jiankang, they were already in a logistical shortage. In this case, it was a tough fight with the elite of the morale of the Beifu Army, and the rebels had no other possibility but to lose. Therefore, Xu Daofu's preemptive capture of Jiankang could only cause some trouble for the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but could not win the war.
From a historical and military point of view, what determined the direction of this war was actually the strength of the Beifu Army and the military decisions of the rebels. The Beifu Army was the most elite army in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and one of the most elite armies in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. From the beginning of the Battle of Shuishui, this army was almost undefeated, so the rebels were not superior in actual strength. Although the rebels were armed with 100,000 people, most of them were peasants who had just put down their hoes, or ruffians and thieves everywhere. It is impossible for these rabble-rousers to fight with the Beifu soldiers who are in the stage of professional soldiers, so the end of hard-hitting has long been doomed. Judging from the rebels' war decisions in the process of development, Xu Daofu made a major mistake, and Lu Xun knew this mistake but did not resolutely correct it in time.
The rebels set out from southern Guangdong to the north, thousands of miles away, and this logistical problem was very serious. Although the overwhelming battle situation allowed them to feed the war and grab logistics materials on the spot, their access was very limited. Especially after the army swelled to 100,000 people, the drawbacks of no logistics base were immediately exposed. Due to the rapid development, the rebels did not have a base on the way from Southern Guangdong to Jiankang, and they won the battle, but did not occupy favorable terrain and cities, making the rebels' foundation very weak. These drawbacks were ignored by Xu Daofu when fighting the tailwind battle, but these drawbacks were exposed when Liu Yu counterattacked. Lack of supplies, no foothold, besieged and consumed by the Eastern Jin army along the way, how long can the rebels hold out in this situation?
After the great victory over Liu Yi, Lu Xun proposed to develop forces in Jiangling and Jingzhou on the spot, and to rule with the Eastern Jin court. This was a good strategy, which could not only temporarily solve the growing logistical problems, but also refine the army to occupy a favorable position, eliminate the surrounding Eastern Jin army, and reduce military pressure. At this time, Liu Yu's army had not yet returned, and the surrounding area of Jiankang was in chaos. If the rebels can seize this opportunity to consolidate their foundations, cut off the supplies transported to Jiankang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and use geographical advantages to fight a war of attrition on the spot, there is also a possibility of self-protection. It was better to face the Beifu soldiers unprepared than to rush into battle outside Jiankang City. And it will not be crushed by the Beifu soldiers chasing behind them, resulting in a battle situation that will collapse in a hurry.
To sum up, Liu Yu's victory was taken for granted, while the defeat of the rebels was self-inflicted. Lu Xun knew that the unstable foundation was the master plan of the soldiers, but he did not adhere to his own strategy, but followed Xu Daofu, who was overwhelmed by the immediate victory, to the north, and finally went to extinction. Because they were besieged by the surrounding Eastern Jin army on the way back, the rebels did not even have the opportunity to return to their old nest. Instead, Liu Yu sent an army to attack Panyu City from the sea, cutting off the rebels' rear roads, and uprooting the foundation that Lu Xun had painstakingly managed. From these perspectives, Lu Xun's failure is not that he did not listen to Xu Daofu's words, but that he listened too much to Xu Daofu's words. If Jingzhou had occupied the important territory and held it, the situation of the war would have been very different.