In the recent drama "Shangyang Fu", the "Ning Shuo Army" led by Xiao Qi, the king of Yuzhang, who was born of civilian origin, is known as the strongest army in the Dacheng imperial court, stationed on the northern border to defend against the attack of the foreign King Kulan on Dacheng. With the development of the plot, Ning Shuojun also became the strongest weapon in Xiao Qi's hands, playing an important role in his road to overthrowing the old dynasty and establishing a new dynasty. And in real history, there is indeed such a powerful army, which has established great feats and protected the peace of the Southern Dynasty for nearly three hundred years! Of course, its name is not Ning ShuoJun, but "Beifu Army".
<h1>Origins of the Northern Province Army</h1>
The formation of any army in history is closely related to the changes in society. In the last year of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Sima family, which ended the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms, lost their strength due to internal strife, causing the Rebellion of the Eight Kings and the Rebellion of Yongjia, the emperor was taken captive, and the Central Plains was in chaos. In order to avoid the scourge of war, Sima Rui of the Jin Dynasty and a large group of Han nobles "crossed the south in clothes" and came to Jiangnan Bian'an. Later, Sima Rui ascended the throne with the support of the Langya Wang clan and established the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
The emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not have any direct army in his hands, so he could not give orders to the family clan at all. Sima Rui originally wanted to arrange his own people to the sphere of influence of the general Wang Dun, but this caused opposition from the entire scholar class. In the end, Wang Dun rebelled, and Sima Rui died depressed in desolation.
The attitude of the shi clan towards Sima Rui's death can be described as "rabbit death fox sorrow", except for one person: Xi Jian.
Xi Jian was a famous calligrapher, and Wang Xizhi was his son-in-law. Xi Jian had served as a Zhongshu Shilang in the Western Jin Dynasty, and he had deep feelings for the Sima family and was more loyal to the imperial family. He saw Sima Rui's death very clearly, so he decided to build an army that was "ordered by the imperial family." He understood that the Jiangnan region had actually been divided up by several warrior clans, and they would not really be willing to use their military strength to defend the royal family. Therefore, Xi Jian had a unique way to train the displaced people from the north to form an army, which could share the emperor's worries if necessary.
Xi Jian's attempt worked well. The displaced people in the north, although they don't sound good, are very useful. The warriors are from the Cold Tribe, their thinking is direct and simple, they have a strong will to survive and their fighting instincts, and they often dare to fight on the battlefield. Relying on them, Xi Jian defeated the armies of Wang Han and Wang Dun successively, quelled the rebellion of Su Jun and Zu Yue, and successfully defended the inheritance of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
This army of displaced people was the predecessor of the future Beifu Army. It's just that at this time they don't have their own official names. Generally speaking, the exile army that was in charge of this time in history was called the Yangzhou Army.
<h1>The official formation of the Beifu Army</h1>
Later, with the development of history, the Eastern Jin Dynasty's warrior huan clan rose up, and its leader Huan Wen became famous for a while, seizing the Jingzhou legion controlled by Wang Dun at that time, forcing Xi Huan to take away, controlling the Yangzhou army, and the family was dominant. Huan Wen had the intention of usurping the throne, so he wanted to establish military merit through the Northern Expedition. However, the foreign regimes in the north were not easy to fight, and Huan Wen's loss of troops was not successful. Later, under the resistance of the shi clan led by Xie An, Huan Wen eventually failed to add a yellow robe. In this process, the two major armies of the originally powerful Eastern Jin Dynasty suffered heavy losses and no longer had the former glory.
At this time, the political situation in the north underwent drastic changes, and the former Qin emperor Jian Jian unified Jiangbei and was about to launch a war against the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In order to be able to resist the threat from northern Jiangsu, Xie An, the leader of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, together with his nephew Xie Xuan, followed the framework of the Yangzhou Army and the concept of army building, reintegrated resources and established a new army. Because its garrison, Jingkou, is also known as Beifu, this army is called Beifu Army by posterity.
<h1>Equipment of the Northern Province Army</h1>
The Beifu Army was ordered at a time of crisis and attracted much attention after its formation. Since the Sima Imperial Family and the Eastern Jin Dynasty shi clan pointed out these Han generals to sell their lives, they naturally could not let the families go to the battlefield empty-handed, and how could they get money to buy some good equipment. Therefore, the equipment of the Beifu Army was greatly improved during this period. In addition to the "five soldiers (swords, guns, swords, bows, and shields)" that were popular during the Three Kingdoms and two Jin Dynasties, they were also equipped with a large number of crossbows, including large crossbow equipment such as the Wanjun Divine Crossbow and the Che Crossbow. The strength of these crossbows can reach 1500 pounds, the length of the crossbow is more than one meter, and the maximum range reaches 1000 meters, which is equivalent to a cannon in the era of cold weapons, and even large building ships can be shot through by a crossbow!
In terms of armor, the Beifu Army is also extremely luxurious. In addition to the Black Light Armor and the Two Dang Armor during the Three Kingdoms period, some people are equipped with the latest type of Bright Light Armor. In addition to people, war horses are also equipped with horse armor, and their protection is so tight that people are eye-catching. Heavy armored warhorses combined with heavily armored knights formed a world-famous armored riding armor. In the absence of speed and impact of the southern horses, the absolute defensive power and weight became the capital of the Northern Province Army against the heavily armored cavalry of the northern minorities.
Soldiers, crossbows, and horses have formed the "three absolutes" of the equipment of the Beifu Army, but this is not all. The Beifu Army is the Jiangnan Army, and the Water Army is naturally an expert. In addition to a large number of small warships, large building ships capable of carrying more than 2,000 soldiers also appeared in the Beifu Army and became an important vehicle for its troop deployment.
<h1>The glorious achievements of the Northern Province Army</h1>
The fundamental reason why the Northern Province Army differed from other legions in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was the relationship between the commander and the general. The Xie family is a relatively easy-going family among the scholars, and Xie An and Xie Xuan's uncles and nephews also have a relatively weak concept of the door, and are willing to communicate with the Han generals. Under this premise, the famous generals Liu Gaozhi, He Qian, Zhuge Kan, Gao Heng, Liu Rail, Sun Wuzhong and other Han generals continued to increase their positions in the army, and finally the efficiency of the command system of the Northern Prefecture Army was also greatly improved. Later, Xie An and Xie Xuan resigned, Xie Yan was killed due to light enemies, and the control of the Beifu Army was completely handed over to the Han people, and continued to do so. You must know that on reading, it is certain that the Han clan is not as good as the warrior clan, but when it comes to fighting, the warrior clan full of philosophical ideas is really not a star and a half worse than the Han clan. Only by giving full play to the ability of the Han people can the combat effectiveness of the army be guaranteed.
The optimization of the command system, coupled with sophisticated training and sophisticated equipment, has greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Beifu Army. This kind of combat effectiveness has also enabled the Beifu Army to achieve extremely brilliant results.
In 379 AD, Xie Xuan led 50,000 Northern Fu troops to defeat Former Qin's 100,000 troops in the Yangzhou-Xuyi area, and former Qin generals Du Yan and Shao Bao were beheaded, and the commander Peng Chao was spared; in 382 AD, Liu Gaozhi led 5,000 elite troops to attack Luojian, annihilated 15,000 Qin troops, and killed the Former Qin general Liang Cheng; in 383 AD, Xie Xuan led 80,000 Northern Fu troops to defeat more than 300,000 Former Qin troops at the Battle of Shuishui, causing the northern lord Gong Jian to collapse and be killed a few years later; in 384 AD, Liu Gaozhi led the Northern Fu army on the Northern Expedition. Although he was defeated by Murong Chui, the invincible god of war in the north, although he rescued The Son of Zhijian, he had already demonstrated the mighty combat effectiveness of the southern army.
In 399 AD, the Sun En Rebellion broke out. Due to its huge momentum and large numbers, other local armies in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not dare to confront it, and only the Northern Province Army dared to face it head-on. It was in the battle against Sun En that Xie Yan, the last general of the Northern Prefecture Army, was killed for light enemies, and Liu Gaozhi became the supreme general. After that, the Beifu Army still maintained a high-pressure posture against Sun En, but Liu Gaozhi pursued a policy of "raising Kou and respecting himself", which made the war last for a long time. However, the Northern Province general Liu Yu still actively attacked Sun En, and eventually caused him to commit suicide.
In 402, a general battle between the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Shi clan, Sima Yuanxian and Huan Xuan respectively co-opted Liu Jiaozhi, and later Liu Chengzhi mistakenly sided with Huan Xuan and was forced to commit suicide after Huan Xuan's victory. Subsequently, the generals of the Beifu Army, Liu Yu, Liu Yi, and He Wujie, raised an army to destroy Huan Xuan, and the Beifu Army finally ushered in the strongest leader, Liu Yu, and began to reach its peak.
In the hands of Liu Yu, the Beifu Army became a tiger and wolf division that swallowed thousands of miles. After sweeping away the internal strife in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu led the Northern Fu army in the Northern Expedition in the fifth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, defeated Murong Chao's Southern Yan army under Linju City, and soon attacked the Southern Yan capital Guanggu, captured the Southern Yan emperor Murong Chao, and southern Yan perished; in the twelfth year of Yixi (416 AD), Liu Yu rebelled against Later Qin, and the famous northern generals Wang Zhen and Tan Daoji were invincible and directly attacked Chang'an. Later Qin's late emperor Yao Hong surrendered and was escorted to Jiankang to be beheaded, and Later Qin perished. This victory was the first victory in Chinese history from the south to the north, and it also announced the official return of the Han people to Guanzhong! The famous sentence of the Southern Song Dynasty poet Xin Renjie said, "Think of that year, Jinge iron horse, swallowing like a tiger." ", wrote out the invincible momentum of the Beifu Army that year. Unfortunately, Liu Yu had no successor, and the northern territory was eventually occupied by Northern Wei.
In the drama "Shangyang Fu", the Battle of Shuishui and the internal strife of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are reflected, but the most brilliant Yixi Northern Expedition is not mentioned, which cannot but be said to be a pity.
<h1>The withering of the Northern Province Army</h1>
In the first year of the Yong Dynasty (420 AD), Liu Yu established himself in jin and established the Liu Song Dynasty. The Beifu Army that he used to sweep the world was naturally upgraded to the Central Army. Later, with the failure of the Northern Expedition and the internal attrition of Liu Song, the situation in the north and south gradually stabilized, and the Northern Army lost its place of use and gradually lost its combat effectiveness. Moreover, as the basic number of soldiers in the Northern Province Army, the number of displaced people in the north was also decreasing, and the soldiers were gradually exhausted, and they could only return to the old road of the shi clan army. After Liu Yilong, the Wen Emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty, all the veteran generals of the Northern Prefecture Army died, and this army actually ceased to exist, and the Southern Dynasty once again entered an era of chaos. By the eighth year of the Sui Dynasty (588 AD), there were no armies in the south that could fight against the north. On the 20th day of the 20th month of the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Kai (10 February 589), Chen led Ren Zhong to lead Han to attack jiankang city and capture Chen Shubao, the Chen dynasty collapsed, and the Southern Dynasty ceased to exist thereafter. The Beifu Army has become a historical legend, forever left in the past years.