In 384, the 59-year-old Murong Chui failed Fu Jian, pulled the flag in the Kanto region, and rebuilt the Yan Kingdom, known as "Hou Yan" in history. Murong Chui's successful restoration of the country, in addition to his military ability like Han Xin and Bai Qi, is also related to the fact that many brothers and nephews can fight habitually.
Murong De, Murong Shao, Murong Nong, Murong Long, Murong Lin, Murong Hui, Murong Sheng, and Murong Kai are all considered to be masterpieces of a generation. Among them, the three sons of Murong Long, Murong Nong, and Murong Lin can all be on their own, which is the key to Murong Chui's ability to sweep Hebei.
The founding of "Houyan" is the result of the joint efforts of the Murong family. However, the Murong family was unlucky, because they encountered a stronger opponent, that is, Tuoba Jue, who was known as Genghis Khan's "prototype", he was the ceiling of the young emperor, and Murong Chui was too old.
The result of Murong Chui's lifelong struggle was beaten back to its original form by Tuoba Jue in the Battle of Baixi. The 170,000 Yan army was defeated, and only more than 20,000 people returned to the capital Zhongshan, and the four Murong brothers were embarrassed and were pressed and beaten by Tuoba.
After the Battle of Weishui, the former Qin fell apart, and Murong Chui was restored, and the 15-year-old Tuoba Jue was no exception. Murong Chui played the regional competition in Hebei, Tuoba Jue also played the regional competition in Daibei, and Yao Chang and Yao Xing father and son played the northwest competition in Guanzhong.
Later Yan, Northern Wei, and Later Qin rose at the same time, and the north was three-legged, and it was bound to be the next round of competition. Purely looking at the military level, Tuoba Jue is not as good as Murong Chui, but Tuoba Jue has an age advantage, and the time is on the side of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Murong Chui's ambition was to restore the territory of the "Yan Kingdom", and he had no ambition to seize the world. Tuoba is different, the goal is the world, to become a generation of emperors. In this way, Tuoba Jue constantly challenged the Houyan, attacked and killed the grassland tribes that obeyed the Houyan, and established the authority of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 395, in order to punish the 24-year-old Tuoba, the 70-year-old Murong Chui sent an army of 100,000 to the battle. At this time, Murong Chui was already old, and he hoped that the crown prince Murong Bao could establish his authority, so he let the prince take command and expedition to the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Murong Bao's ability is average, and Murong Chui knows it, but he is still confident to defeat the Northern Wei Dynasty. Because, Murong De (Murong Chui's younger brother), Murong Shao (nephew), as well as Murong Nong and Murong Lin, who assisted Murong Bao, were all famous generals, and the Yan army had a luxurious lineup.
The incompetence of the first general exhausted the three armies, Murong Bao's poor command level, and Murong Lin's personal ambition led to the main force of Houyan being wiped out by Tuoba Jue at Shenhepi.
In order to win back a game, Murong Chui disregarded his physical weakness, drove the expedition in person, and transferred Murong Long's Longcheng cavalry from Liaodong to Zhongshan to participate in the expedition to the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 396, Murong Chui personally attacked, and the sons of Murong Nong, Murong Long, and Murong Lin played extraordinarily and directly killed on the outskirts of Pingcheng, beheaded the chief general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Qian, and captured 30,000 households.
When Tuoba Jue heard that Murong was coming, he directly abandoned the capital Shengle and fled to the grassland. At this time, the allies of the Northern Wei Dynasty defected one after another, and many people came to surrender, Tuoba Jue fell into despair for a while, but Murong Chui lost to Age.
The 71-year-old Murong Chui was in very poor health, and after seeing the tragic situation of Shenhepi, he was in a hurry, vomited blood and died, and Murong Bao's class returned to the dynasty and succeeded to the throne. In this way, Tuoba Jue escaped a catastrophe and also opened the prelude to the demise of Houyan.
Four months after Murong was dying, Tuoba Jue immediately mobilized a large army and went south to defeat Houyan in three ways. Tuoba Jue first launched an attack in Bingzhou, and the cavalry of the two sides faced off, and Murong Nong was defeated and fled to Zhongshan alone, and even his wife was captured.
Tuoba Jue's offensive was fierce, and Murong Bao was panicked, so he ordered to abandon the defense line of Taihang Mountain, and concentrated the main force of the Yan army in the three cities of Zhongshan, Yecheng, and Xindu, preparing to adopt the tactics of clearing the wilderness with strong walls and dragging down the Northern Wei army.
Murong Bao's move allowed Tuoba to enter the plain smoothly, and the mobile advantage of Tuoba Xianbei's cavalry was fully utilized. Relying on the defense of the fortress is the best strategy to resist the Northern Wei Dynasty, but unfortunately Murong Bao was confused and buried the foundation.
Tuoba Jue attacked Zhongshan, Tuoba Qian attacked Yecheng, Wang Jian and Li Li attacked Xindu, and the 3rd Route Army of the Northern Wei Dynasty pounced on Houyan at the same time, making it impossible to care for each other. Among them, except for Murong Long's defense of Zhongshan, the rest of Houyan were defeated miserably, and the letter was broken.
After taking Xindu, Tuoba Jue concentrated the main force, stormed Zhongshan, and was about to break through the city. However, due to the internal instability of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the rebellion in the rear, Tuoba Jue planned to negotiate peace with Murong Bao, but was refused.
A fire broke out in the backyard, and Tuoba Jue did not dare to fight, so he retreated overnight. Murong Bao gathered the soldiers and horses of the whole country, took out the treasures and maids in the palace, recruited the world's warriors to join the army, and prepared to pursue the Northern Wei Dynasty and eliminate Tuoba.
After some mobilization, Murong Bao gathered an army of 170,000, Murong Nong, Murong Long, Murong Lin and other brothers followed, and the brave and warlike Longcheng cavalry also all went out to intercept Tuoba Jue. Such a camp is very similar to Murong Chui's attack on Pingcheng the year before, the brothers are all in battle, but the coach has changed.
170,000 Yan troops came and lined up on the north bank of the Hutuo River to block Tuoba Jue's return to the north. At this time, because Tuoba Jue had divided his troops back to quell the rebellion in advance, he had less than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and there was not much food and grass.
For Hou Yan, the best tactic is to "drag" and fight with the Northern Wei Dynasty. Once Tuoba Jue's return was blocked, the domestic turmoil in the Northern Wei Dynasty became bigger and bigger, and Hou Yan could have the opportunity to fight back and continue the national Zuo.
Murong Bao overestimated the power of the Longcheng cavalry and underestimated the ability of Tuoba. Although Murong Nong, Murong Long, and Murong Lin are famous generals, they are not Tuoba Jue's opponents, and they have no chance of winning in a head-to-head duel.
In order to eliminate Tuoba Jue as soon as possible, Murong Bao insisted on launching an attack despite the opposition of his soldiers, hoping to turn things around with a night attack.
Murong Bao's belief that Tuoba Jue's successive victories are easy to underestimate the enemy, and it is easy to succeed in night attacks. Once the forward Longcheng cavalry made a breakthrough with the recruited "death squad", they immediately pressed the main forces of Murong Long and Murong Nong and annihilated the Wei army.
In the dark night, the cold wind was bitter, and the brothers Murong Nong, Murong Long, and Murong Lin quietly crossed the river and raided the Northern Wei camp with a "death squad", while the three brothers led elite soldiers to line up in the north to capture the battle results. Once there was turmoil in the Northern Wei military camp, he immediately went into battle and attacked Tuoba Jue.
The Yan army crossed the river, launched a surprise attack, and set fire to the camp. The Wei army was exhausted from fighting for days, and before they could wake up from their dreams, they were surrounded by fire and once collapsed.
However, after all, Tuoba Jue was the leader of the young emperor, and he quickly reacted from the chaos, and before Murong Long put in the main force, he reorganized his troops and horses and started a fierce battle with the Yan army.
Tuoba Jue personally went into battle, and ordered the torches to be lit, lighting the camp as if it were daylight, so that the Wei army knew the location of the commander, so as to boost morale.
The emperor personally fought hard, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was resurrected with full blood, first destroying the Yan army's "death squad", and then facing the Longcheng cavalry, aiming the attack direction at Murong Nong. In the Battle of Hepi and the Battle of Bingzhou, Murong Nong was violently beaten by Tuoba Jue, but he still fought back tenaciously and was not afraid at all.
From night to day, the Yan army could not parry, and Murong Long had to retreat to the north bank and rely on fortifications to defend. Tuoba Jue crossed the river with victory, lined up on the north bank, and constantly sent cavalry to challenge the four Murong brothers, so that they could hurry out for a decisive battle and not retreat into the camp.
Tuoba Jue came back to kill, and Murong Bao was terrified. At this time, it was winter, the snow was falling, the sky was freezing, and Tuoba Jue sent troops to cut off the road for the Yan army to cut wood, and Murong Bao's army was in chaos.
Without firewood, it is impossible to cook or keep warm, and soldiers' hands are frozen, making it difficult to even pick up arms. The predicament faced by Murong Bao was repeated by Jin Jun more than 800 years later. The Battle of Pak Yan was very similar to the Battle of the Three Peaks Mountain in Jinmeng, where the weather turned the tide.
Murong Bao couldn't drag it out any longer, and he couldn't fight with Tuoba Jue, so he could only order the withdrawal of troops and return to Zhongshan. Tuoba Jue did not give Murong Bao a chance, and the cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty followed and pursued all the way, constantly eliminating the Yan army's broken rear troops, and gradually eliminating the opponent's living forces.
Seeing that the soldiers were eliminated little by little, Murong Bao was worried that Tuoba Jue would catch up with him, so he ordered all armor and materials to be abandoned, and the whole army fled lightly, and the emperor himself was the first to slip away. This scene is similar to the battle of Qigou Pass more than 600 years later, Cao Bin, as the commander, abandoned the soldiers and ran first, and 100,000 Song troops were wiped out by Yelu Xiuge.
Tuoba Jue plays the role of Yelu Hugo, and Murong Bao is Cao Bin. Murong Bao ran away by himself, and the Yan army left behind could only be slaughtered by the Wei army, and the hundreds of thousands of troops were all defeated, either surrendered, trampled to death, or shot by the Wei army, and only more than 20,000 people returned to Zhongshan.
The 170,000-strong army was defeated, and Murong Bao once again repeated the mistake of the Battle of Shenhepi, and the four Murong brothers lost the courage to fight under the attack of Tuoba. However, this time without his father Murong Chui, Hou Yan had already lost almost all of his elite soldiers, and he couldn't fight Tuoba Jue, and it was only a matter of time before he perished.
After winning the Battle of Baifu, Tuoba immediately returned to China to quell the civil strife, and then marched south again. A few months later, Tuoba Jue arrived again on the outskirts of Zhongshan, and the Murong Bao brothers had no choice but to flee and return to Liaodong, where Murong Xianbei had risen, to join their uncle.
Murong Bao left Zhongshan, and "Houyan" existed in name only. In this one-third of an acre of land in Liaodong, Murong Xianbei's penchant for infighting has been staged many times, and Murong Bao, Murong Nong, and Murong Long are all victims.
The battle of Baiyan became a straw that crushed Houyan. Murong Trai worked hard to restore the country, and after countless tribulations, he finally defeated all opponents and pushed Houyan to the extreme. In the Murong Chui era, Hou Yan was the first power, stronger than the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Later Qin Dynasty, and the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Who knows, less than 2 years after Murong was dying, the "Hou Yan" he worked hard to create, but was defeated by his sister's grandson Tuoba Jue. In addition to Murong Bao, Murong Chui's sons are all excellent, but it is a pity that he met Tuoba, which is the misfortune of the Murong family.
As an aside, Tuoba Jue was able to defeat Houyan, and the first person to thank was Wang Meng, the former prime minister of Qin. If it weren't for Wang Meng's "Golden Knife Plan", Murong Xianbei's best new generation Murong Ling was killed, and Murong Ling would take over Murong Chui's foundation, and Tuoba Jue would have been difficult to set foot in the Central Plains.