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Text | Far mountain bamboo leaves
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preface
When the three well-known idioms of "throwing the whip to cut off the flow", "the sound of the wind and cranes", and "the grass and trees are soldiers", will unconsciously remind people of the Battle of Shuishui, which began in 383 AD.
After unifying the north, Former Qin Fujian was determined to destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty and unify the north and south, but unexpectedly this was also the source of the downfall of his dynasty.
In fact, whether it was Former Qin, whose ruling foundation was not yet firm, and Fu Jian, who had always been a master and a low hand, had already foreshadowed the final outcome of this war.
But no one expected that this small battle would directly lead to the collapse of the Former Qin Empire.
Battle of Shuishui
One of the most famous battles in Chinese history, the Battle of Shuishui in 383 AD, was not the largest battle.
As the unifier of the north, Fu Jian had strong national strength and a large army, and at this time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was still in a period of political and military development.
In July of the eighth year of the Taiyuan Dynasty, the Qin king Fu Jian issued an edict to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty in a large force, collecting one out of every ten adult men as a soldier, and the brave and powerful children of the Liang family under the age of twenty were appointed Yulin Lang.
Fu Jian, commanding more than 600,000 soldiers and 270,000 cavalry, began his march in August.
The main army arrived at Xiangcheng in September, and the troops of Liangzhou and Shu Han arrived in Xianyang and Pengcheng respectively, thousands of miles from east to west, and there were more than 10,000 ships transporting grain and grass alone.
Fu Jian's half-brother Yangping Gong Fu Rong led an army of 300,000 to Yingkou first, while the Eastern Jin Dynasty sent Xie Shi as the governor of the capital and Xie Xuan as the forward governor, and 80,000 Beifu soldiers such as Xie Yan and Huan Yi went north to face the Former Qin army.
At that time, Shouyang was an important fortress in the Huainan region, and in October of the eighth year of the Taiyuan Dynasty, the vanguard of the Former Qin army, Fu Rong, captured Shouyang, and the Shouyang defender Xu Yuanxi was captured.
Hu Bin led reinforcements to retreat to Tunjianshi, and Liu Jiaozhi led 5,000 elite soldiers straight to Luojian, attacked the army of Liang Cheng of the Fu army, broke the Qin army, killed Liang Cheng and Yiyang Taishou Wang Yong, and blocked the Qin army's retreat.
Xie Shi and other Jin troops advancing by land and water advanced towards Shuishui, and Fu Jian and Fu Rong climbed the Shouyang City Tower, seeing that the Jin army was in a strict position and the soldiers had the will to fight, and thought that the grass and trees on Bagong Mountain were Jin troops, and they were afraid.
The Qin army was arrayed in Shuishui, and Xie Xuan asked the other side to retreat, allowing the Jin army to cross the river and fight a decisive battle.
Fu Rong secretly retreated backwards, Xie Shi persuaded Xie Xuan to take Zhu Xuan's advice and take the initiative to attack, and the Jin army advanced towards Shuishui in November, and the Qin army fell into chaos during the retreat, and eventually the whole line collapsed.
In the end, Fu Rong was killed, Fu Jian was in the middle of the arrow, and the emperor fled back to Luoyang, while the Jin army pursued the Qin army, and many of the escapees died of grass sleeping, freezing and starvation, and finally, the Jin army recaptured Shouyang.
Although the Former Qin army was large in number, with Fu Rong as the first and Fu Jian as the main force, they marched in stages, advancing by land and water.
However, in the Battle of Shuishui, Fu Jian and Fu Rong's armies met with stubborn resistance from generals such as Xie Shi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, although Fu Rong captured Shouyang first.
However, in the ensuing battle, the Fu army fell into chaos and eventually routed on the whole line, and this battle marked the defeat of Former Qin in the face of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Eastern Jin army achieved important victories under the command of generals such as Xie Shi and Xie Xuan.
In fact, as the ruler, Fu Jian himself was not as powerful as he appeared, and after recovering the northern region, Fu Jian did not rest and cultivate, regardless of the actual situation of the unstable foundation of the rule, which eventually led to a great defeat.
The Former Qin Empire had a weak foundation of rule
You know, Fu Jian's crusade against the Eastern Jin Dynasty was carried out after the death of Wang Meng, who single-handedly created the powerful Former Qin Empire, so who is Wang Meng?
As an important adviser in the rise and expansion of Former Qin's power, Wang Meng was known for his erudition and strategy, and served as Former Qin's prime minister, leading many important internal and external affairs.
As early as before his death, Wang Meng expressed his concern, believing that the Hao clan power of the various tribes within Former Qin and the existence of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were the problem, and advised Fu Jian not to rashly attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
He believed that it was important not to rashly attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty and that "the nobles and thieves of Xianbei and Western Qiang should be gradually eradicated."
This also reflected the hidden danger within the former Qin regime at that time, that is, the problem of weak ruling foundation.
At that time, the Xianbei forces in the northern part of the Central Plains were mainly composed of Murong Clan's Former Yan and Tuoba Clan's dynasties, Wang Meng destroyed Former Yan, and the northern tribes were also destroyed a year later, but the remnants of these forces were still strong.
As for the Western Qiang, it had long competed with the Di people for territory in the Hexi and Guanlong regions, and only temporarily dormant when Former Qin was strong.
In addition, since the Yongjia Rebellion, the Hu-Han contradiction has existed for a long time in the north, and famous clans in the north, such as the Cui clan of Qinghe and the Lu clan of Fanyang, did not cooperate with the Former Qin regime.
Even though Fu Jian himself advocated Confucianism, recognized the privileges of the Shi clan, established schools, and boldly recruited Han officials such as Wang Meng, Lü Polou, and Liang Pinglao, he failed to gain support among the Shi clans in the north.
The Northern Shi still regarded the Jin dynasty as orthodox from the bottom of their hearts, so the Former Qin regime's rule in the north was limited to the Di people, the Han people, and some people attracted to Fu Jian.
Among them, the strength of the Di ethnic group was the foundation of the former Qin regime and the foundation of Fu Jian's foothold in the chaotic times, but they were sent to various places by Fu Jian and lost their due role, thus burying the hidden danger of the decline of the center.
It can be said that Wang Meng, as an important adviser of Former Qin, played an important role in the rise and expansion of Fu Jian's power, and losing Wang Meng's Former Qin was like losing sharp teeth.
His concerns about the tribal forces within the Former Qin regime and the existence of the Eastern Jin Dynasty reflected the plight of the Former Qin, but Fu Jian at that time was intoxicated by his own achievements and did not realize these problems.
And Fu Jian, who had been blinded by his illusory achievements, chose the imperial chauffeur even more blindly and arrogantly, which became the direct trigger for the fall of the Former Qin Dynasty.
The last straw that crushed the camel
There are two theories as to why Fu Jian dispersed the Di people in various places.
One theory is that Fu Jian followed the system of division in the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, allowing the clansmen to live in Fangzhen in their own territories, similar to the pattern of ancient princely states.
Another theory is that in the name of dividing the seal, Fu Jian intended to weaken the obstacles of his own conservative forces and complete the so-called great cause of "taking care of the world".
Fu Jian hoped to realize the model of returning to the traditional benevolent king advocated by Mencius, so as to realize the naturalization of the four Yi without distinction between Hu and Han, and become a veritable "holy king" that will be passed down through the ages.
However, judging from the "Six Towns Uprising" triggered by the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, it is clear that Former Qin did not have the conditions to fully practice the "royal way" mentioned by Mencius.
After Wang Meng's death, Fu Jian ignored the opposition of his clan brother Fu Rong and was instigated by Murong Chui and others to issue an edict mobilizing a million-strong army to march south against the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
At first, the Northern Shi clan did not support the policies of Former Qin, and the northern displaced people also returned to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to form the Northern Fu Army, and Zhu Xu's inner change of thought reflected Wang Meng's last words that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was still popular with the people and was the right way under heaven.
In addition, Former Qin did not stop consolidating in time after a series of expansions, resulting in a crushing defeat in the Battle of Shuishui.
However, a careful reading of the records of the Battle of Shuishui between the Qin and Jin dynasties reveals that the battle itself was an ordinary small defeat, not enough to lead to the collapse and disintegration of the entire Former Qin Empire.
So, why did the Former Qin Empire collapse directly after this battle? In fact, the focus of the problem lies in Fu Jian's royal driving conquest.
Fu Jian became overconfident after a series of expansionist victories, and he hastily launched a million-strong army to the south, despite the remaining hostile relations between the Di people and Xianbei and Western Qiang within Former Qin, and the fact that the Han Dashi clan were unwilling to fully support it.
The large size of the army led to a decline in the quality and efficiency of army deployment, and the huge material consumption made Former Qin lose its strategic strength and unable to conduct a long-term war of attrition, and was finally calculated in the Battle of Shuishui with the Northern Fu soldiers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
However, Fu Jian's imperial conquest not only failed to boost morale, but also caused the Former Qin army to collapse because of the imperial chariot's retreat.
After the defeat of Former Qin in the Battle of Shuishui, the country's military and political system collapsed, and only the crown prince led a small number of old, weak, sick and disabled to guard Chang'an, and Xianbei and Western Qiang rebelled.
After that, Fu Jian was killed by the Qiang Yao Yuan, followed by the demise of Former Qin, and at the same time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty failed to take advantage of the Yuwei of the Battle of Shuishui to go north to regain lost territory.
The Jingzhou Huan clan and the Jin court confronted again, and the Jin court also fought endlessly because of the command of the Beifu troops.
Later, the north was gradually reunified by the Northern Wei regime established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south was eventually replaced by Liu Yutong, a soldier of Northern Fu, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties period followed.
epilogue
It is indeed a fact that the Eastern Jin Dynasty troops are weak, and the only thing worth mentioning is the Yangtze River Heavenly Danger and the Beifu elite soldiers.
However, whether a war is won or not does not only depend on the comparison of the forces of the two sides in the battle, and Xie An can only stabilize people's hearts with "nothing to do" in this case.
And Fu Jian relied on his seemingly powerful but actually already battered imperial army, and finally lost to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which made future generations sigh: It is not that the Eastern Jin Dynasty is too smart, but that Fu Jian is too proud.