In 552 AD, Hou Jing, who had been rebelling in the south for 3 years, finally ushered in a shameful end.
Just last year, Hou Jing's army was defeated by the Liang general Wang Shengquan at Baling, and Hou Jingcang fled back to Jiankang.
1. Wang Shengxuan and Chen Baxian joined forces to put down the rebellion
More than 50,000 of the Liang Dynasty's crusading army, under the command of Wang Shengjie, pursued them and marched to Xiangcheng.
Another terrible army from Guangzhou, Lingnan, with more than 30,000 troops under Chen Baxian, also broke through many obstacles and led the army to Yuzhang. Chen Baxian divided his grain and rice 300,000 stones with Wang Monk, and the two would meet in Baimaowan, Xiangcheng. Chen Wang's two armies combined with more than 80,000 troops, although the strength of the more than 150,000 Qin Wang troops led by Liu Zhongli at that time, but they were all elite troops experienced in hundreds of battles, and the generals of the unified army were also the most famous figures in the late Liang Dynasty.
Chen Baxian was originally a native of Wuxing, Jiangnan, who had been serving in Guangzhou in his early years, and had become the strongest faction in Lingnan around the first year of the Taiqing Dynasty. Xiao Xuan, the king of Xiangdong, had previously given Chen Baxian the title of Assassin of Jiangzhou, but at this time, in order to strengthen Chen's control, he was renamed the Assassin of Dongyang Prefecture and the Governor of Ji Taishou, while Wang Shengsheng was appointed as the Assassin of Jiangzhou.
In February 552, Wang Shengquan commanded various armies along the river to discuss, sending Hou Yao as the vanguard in front, all the way to the two cities of Kenanling (present-day Nanling, Anhui) and Quetou (present-day Tongling, Anhui). Wang's army followed up at Daleishu (大雷戍, in modern Wangjiang, Anhui), and after a short rest, advanced to Quetou. The rebel general Hou Zijian also rescued Jiangnan County from Hefei, and when he heard that Wang's army was like a broken bamboo, he did not dare to confront it, so he led his army back to Huainan County (淮南郡, in modern Dangtu, Anhui).
Wang's army entered Wuhu, and the rebel Wuhu defender Zhang Hei abandoned the city and fled.
Hou Jing ordered the general Shi Anhe to lead 2,000 people to Guyu to reinforce Hou Zijian, and strictly ordered Hou Zijian not to engage with water troops, but to treat him with land battles. Hou Zijian then collected the ships and entered The River and camped on the riverbank. Wang Monk did not know that the rebel army was false, and the large army stopped in Wuhu for more than ten days. Hou Jingzhi seriously misjudged Wang Shengzhi's intentions, believing that he did not dare to attack hard, so he ordered Hou Zijian to attack Wuhu with a water division in an attempt to annihilate the main force of the Jingzhou army in one battle. This wishful thinking of the rebels eventually accelerated the defeat, and Wang Shengquan seized the opportunity to quickly march into the southern continent of Zhangu.
Hou Zijian saw that Wang Shengshui's division had entered Nanzhou, so he commanded his troops to attack the river in the boat of The Turtle (Yin Zhouyong). The rebels captured the local sailors to drive, and they believed that they could fight with the local water divisions in Jiangnan, and their arrogance was very arrogant.
The monk ordered the large ship to anchor and temporarily avoid its front, and only retreated in front of the small boat, luring the rebels to attack. When the rebels all entered Jiangxin, the big ships all sailed out to encircle the rebels' rear roads, and the two armies mixed into a ball to fight in Jiangxin. After all, the rebel generals are mostly north of the people, if it is surrounded by land, they may not feel how, and when they reach the heart of the river, they can't help but panic, not to mention that Wang Sheng's army is several times larger than the rebel army. The rebels were defeated in Jiangxin, and the soldiers fell into the water and died, with thousands of casualties, basically losing their combat effectiveness. Hou Zijian reluctantly gathered the remnants of the army and fled into Dongfu City.
Hou Zijian's troops were the last backbone fighting force of the rebels, and the casualties in this battle were so heavy that it basically declared that the defeat of the rebels was decided. Hou Jing learned in Taicheng that he was so frightened that he was masked by a man, collapsed on the bed, and did not say a word for half a day, and after a long time, he said in despair: "Manslaughter is the gong!" ”
Second, Hou Jing's elite was completely annihilated
Wang Sheng's army marched into Zhang Gongzhou outside the Qinhuai River, and the army was like a black cloud, and the murderous qi penetrated the city of Taicheng. Three years ago, Liu Zhongli led the qinwang army to stop here, but at that time, the various armies were not convinced of each other, and although the number was large, it was scattered. Now liang jun's orders are strict, the generals are brave and skilled, and their morale is strong, but the rebels are fighting less and less, the weaker they are, and the situation is reversed, which shows that the Heavenly Dao will not tolerate evil things in the end. Hou Jing ascended to the stone city to watch the two armies of Wang Shengxuan and Chen Baxian, and seeing that the two armies of Wang and Chen were strictly in formation, he could not help but be discouraged and lamented: "A handful of people, how can they fight." ”
In the face of the desperate situation Hou Jing was still not dead hearted, he assigned Lu Hui to guard the stone city, Qi Xijin to defend the capital city, ordered the army to sink many large ships at the mouth of the Qinhuai River to block the waterway, and built a large-scale fence along the Qinhuai River to prevent Wang Shengwei from attacking. In order to prevent the collapse of the troops due to low morale, Hou Jing moved all the family members of the generals to Taicheng as hostages, which shows the weakness of the internal cohesion of the rebels.
Chen Baxian consulted with Wang Shengxian and held that liu Zhongli's various armies stationed on the south bank of Qinhuai in those years caused labor and no success, although there were reasons for the reinforcements of various departments not to be subordinated, but the unfavorable terrain was also a very important factor, the rebels landed on the mountains on the north bank, and the situation on the south bank with low terrain was all seen, and now it is absolutely impossible to repeat Liu Zhongli's mistakes.
Therefore, Chen Baxian led his headquarters around the mouth of the Qinhuai River, marched northwest of Stone City, and built a city fence all the way to threaten Taicheng to the east. Hou Jingsheng feared that the Liang army would cut off the connection between Stone City and Taicheng, so he also built a city gate in the northeast direction of Stone City. Wang Monk's troops also entered the north of Shicheng one after another, trying to use this as a breakthrough to attack Taicheng.
Hou Jing gathered more than 10,000 people and opposed the Liang army in Stone City.
In March Ding Hai, the final decisive battle finally arrived. Chen Baxian and Wang Shengxian debated and analyzed the situation, believing that the Liang army was numerous and the rebels were few, and they should divide the various armies and horses, contain the rebels from all directions, and make them suffer from the enemy everywhere. Therefore, the liang army was divided into various parts, and the elite cavalry of the Jingzhou army Du Gong and Wang Lin attacked one direction each, and Chen Baxian ordered the general Xu Du to lead 2,000 crossbowmen to intercept the rebels, leaving only the backbone troops to line up in front of them.
Kitasasa Bushi
Hou Jing commanded the rebels to concentrate on attacking the Liang army's Wang Shengzhi's troops, and Wang Shengzhi retreated slightly. Xu Du led the crossbowmen to shoot at the rebels from behind the line, Hou Jing was held back everywhere, and the frontal attack was delayed in achieving a breakthrough, and was forced to lead the army to retreat under the attack of Xu Du's crossbowmen. Chen Baxian, Du Gong and Wang Lin led the iron horse in pursuit, and the stone city defender Lu Hui was slightly frightened and opened the north gate to surrender. Hou Jingfu led more than a hundred brave cavalrymen to abandon the sword and attack Chen Baxian, which was the tactic used by Hou Jing to break Murong Shaozong, and once won a great victory in Woyang Yizhi, but at this time, after the great defeat, this kind of dying and struggling style of play was useless. The rebel attack did not work, and collapsed on the spot, one after another.
3. Hou Jing's death
At the Battle of Stone City, the Liang army won a decisive victory, the main force of the rebel army was completely annihilated, and Hou Jing's end was clearly visible. On March 19, 552, Hou Jing fled to the outskirts of Jiankang City and gazed at the city he had worked so hard to build, his heart full of despair. Taicheng was now a place of death, and he did not dare to enter the city, so he wanted to go around the city, and Wang Wei pulled his horse's head and said, "Since ancient times, where has there been a traitorous son of heaven?" Hou Jing angrily said to Wang Wei, "Today's event, I am afraid that it is the death of heaven, but it is good to defend the city, and I should make a decision again." ”
Later, he carried his two sons born in Jiangnan in a leather bag, and with hundreds of loyal cavalry abandoned the city and went to Zhufang, intending to defect to Xie Daren's army. Just as the so-called trees fell and scattered, Hou Jing fled, Wang Wei and Hou Zijian abandoned Taicheng and Dongfu City respectively, and the rebels completely collapsed.
Hou Jing had no way to go, and there were pursuing soldiers, and the thousands of remnants of the soldiers who had gathered in Wu County scattered, leaving only three warships from the Songjiang River into the sea, Hou Jing threw his two young sons into the sea, and ordered the shipwrights to sail rapidly towards the east of the mountain.
The son of the famous Liang dynasty general Yang Kan was also coerced by Hou Jing, and although Yang Guan was trapped in the rebel army, he never forgot the legacy of his father Yang Kanzhi to destroy the Hu thief, and while Hou Jing was sleeping, he secretly ordered the shipwrights to turn around and sail east into the river mouth and go straight to Jingkou. Hou Jing woke up and found that the direction was wrong, so he asked why, and Yang Que lied to him that Guo Yuanjian's army was still in Guangling, and we went there to join him. Hou Jing turned from worry to joy, but he didn't know that his life had come to an end with this ship.
Yang Que and Xie Huanrui (Xie Daren's brother) and Wang Yuanli secretly murdered Hou Jing to lower Liang Jun, and the three of them went to kill Hou Jing with a knife, and Hou Jing escaped into the bottom of the boat and drew a knife in an attempt to chisel the boat through the water to escape. The sheep pelican changed into a horse mallet and entered the boat to stab Hou Jing to death.
Other backbone elements of Hou Jing's rebel army, Wang Wei, were captured on the way to escape; another conspirator, Suo Chaoshi, was captured by Yang Cong and beheaded at Jingkou on the way to escape; Guo Yuanjian, who was guarding Guangling, surrendered to Northern Qi (Gao Yang had already usurped Eastern Wei in 551); Xie Daren, Zhao Bochao, and others surrendered to Wang Shengsheng, Peng Jun, and other second-rate figures were either killed or deposed; Zhao Sixian, a puppet attendant of the rebel army, fled north with the Chuanguo Seal on Hou Jing's bequest, encountered robbers on the way, lost in the grass, and was later found by Guo Yuanjian and presented to Gao Yang, the Emperor wenxuan of Northern Qi.
Hou Jing's body was stuffed with a belly of salt and sent to Taicheng, and Wang Sheng ordered hou Jing's hands to be chopped off and sent to Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, with the intention of showing off the martial arts of Jingzhou; Hou Jing's first rank was cut off and sent to Jiangling, and Xiao Xuan ordered hou hou to be painted and kept in the arsenal forever.
Hou Jing's body was cut and eaten by the people of Jiankang, the wreckage was burned and raised to ashes, even the ashes were swallowed by people who could not eat meat and water, and there was no waste in the whole body, which was also a little contribution to the people of Jiangnan.
Hou Jing was detained in Jinyang's family, and when Gao Cheng was in power, he stripped Hou Jing's wife and son of his face and threw them into a large iron pot and fried to death, his daughters were punished and sent to the palace as concubines, and his sons under the age of three were castrated.
Later, Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, Gao Yang, dreamed of seeing macaques sitting on a bed, and ordered that Hou Jing's few remaining eunuch sons be thrown into a large iron pot and boiled to death. Hou Jingsheng was cruel and murderous, and he did many evil deeds in Jiangnan, and his relatives ended up in such a fate, which was the cycle of heavenly dao, and the retribution was not happy.