Later Yan retreated to Liaodong, Northern Wei occupied the land of Hebei, Tuoba Jue officially became emperor, and Tuoba Jue and his empire came to an unprecedented height. However, the war with Later Yan also greatly depleted the strength of Northern Wei, so in the following years, Tuoba Jue focused his main energy on the country, except for some sporadic military operations, there was no large-scale use of troops, and Northern Wei entered a period of relative stability.
At the same time, Later Qin, who was far away in Guanzhong, also gradually became stronger under the leadership of Yao Xing. Soon after Yao Xing ascended the throne, he completely eliminated the remnants of Former Qin's forces, and then extended Later Qin's sphere of influence to the west to Tianshui County and north to Shang County. In the second year of Tianxing (399 AD, the third year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Long'an), he began to encroach on the territory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and captured Luoyang, so that the cities north of the Huai River and the Han River in the Eastern Jin Dynasty were more requested to surrender to Later Qin. In the third year of Tianxing (400 AD, the fourth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Long'an), he defeated Qifu Gangui and destroyed Western Qin. In the fourth year of Tianxing (401 AD, the fifth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Long'an), with the defeat of Houliang, the rest of the Liang also paid tribute to the Later Qin Dynasty, and the Later Qin state reached its peak stage, subjugating Guanzhong and Qin Long. The north also showed a situation in which the Northern Wei and Later Yan countries were standing tall.
Although there was no direct conflict of interest between the two sides in the process, the seeds of discord had long been sown. First of all, Mo Yigan, who was annexed to Later Qin, took in Tuoba Jue's sworn enemy, Liu Bobo, the son of Liu Weichen, the leader of the Tiefu Xiongnu clan. Later, Tuoba Jue sent the northern lord He Digan to ask Later Qin for marriage with a thousand horses, but Yao Xing refused on the grounds that Tuoba Gui had already made Empress Murong, and left He Digan behind. Over time, this contradiction has slowly evolved into a military conflict. In the fourth year of Tianxing (401 AD, the fifth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Long'an), on December Xinhai Day, Tuoba Jue sent Tuoba Zun, the king of Changshan, and Duke Dingling and Bao to lead an army of 50,000 to attack Moyigan. In the fifth year of Tianxing (402 AD, the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Emperor Yuanxing), Tuoba Jue ordered the generals and raided the dethronements and Suguyan and other departments. Several tribes, such as Wu Yigan, Dethrone Fu, and Suguyan, were all subordinate to Later Qin, and using force against them was undoubtedly a provocation to Later Qin. However, Tuoba Jue not only did not care about these things, but also reviewed his army on the day of the first month of Gengyin, and let the counties of Hezhou accumulate grain and grass in Qianbi City in Pingyang, and Tuoba Jue was ready for the Battle of Later Qin.
On the day of the Yuki in February, Tuoba Zun led a large army to Gaoping and prepared to launch an attack on Mo Yigan. Knowing that he was invincible, Mo Yigan left his men behind and fled to Qin Prefecture with only a few thousand cavalry and Liu Bobo. Although the Northern Wei army pursued them all the way to Watting, they still let them escape. Therefore, gaoping's treasury savings and all livestock were looted, and all the people here were also migrated to Pingcheng. At the same time, Northern Wei's Pingyang Taishou sent troops to invade Hedong and threaten Later Qin from the east. After a while, the whole country of Qin was shaken, and the people in Chang'an City were panicked, and many places in the Guanzhong area did not dare to open the city gate during the day.
This series of moves by the Northern Wei undoubtedly angered Yao Xing, so he ordered people to select elites, train soldiers, and prepare for a battle with Northern Wei. In May of that year, Yao Xing formally raised an army against Northern Wei, and he sent his younger brother Yao Ping ,D.Y. (姚平), the Duke of Yiyang (義阳公), and Shangshu (尚書右仆) to lead 40,000 infantry cavalry as a forward, followed by Yao Xing himself. The primary target of Later Qin's attack was the dry wall where Northern Wei was hoarding grain and grass. Yao Ping launched a strong attack on Qianbi City, and after more than sixty days of fierce fighting, he finally conquered Qianbi and seized a large amount of materials hoarded here by Northern Wei. In July, Tuoba Jue finally fought back. He sent Tuoba Shun, the king of Biling, and ChangSun Fei, the assassin of Yuzhou, to lead 60,000 cavalry as forwards, and he personally led a large army to follow behind and came to meet Yao Ping.
In August, Tuoba Gui arrived at Yong'an, and Yao Ping sent General Xiao with 200 elite cavalry to investigate the false reality of the Northern Wei army. Changsun Fei was ordered to meet the battle and capture all these people. Yao Ping then chose to retreat, but Tuoba Jue also led his army in hot pursuit. On August 1, Tuoba Jue caught up with Yao Ping at Chaibi, and Yao Ping had to defend the city to protect himself, while the Northern Wei army took advantage of the situation to besiege him.
Knowing that Yao Ping was surrounded, Yao Xing personally led 47,000 soldiers and horses to the rescue, and Yao Xing prepared to occupy Tiandu west of Fenshui, and then transported grain through here to support Yao Ping, who was holding on to Chaibi. On the Northern Wei side, Dr. Li Xian offered Tuoba Jue a plan, and should seize Tiandu before Yao Xing arrived. Tuoba Jue then ordered more sieges to be built internally to prevent Yao Ping from breaking through and yao Xing from attacking from the outside. Then he was preparing to lead an army to capture Tiandu, at which time An Tong said to Tuoba Jue: "There is a Mengkeng in Fendong, and there are more than three hundred miles from east to west, and the path is not clear. When it comes, it will come straight from Fenxi to Chaibi; in this way, the sound of the enemy will be connected, and although the siege is solid, it cannot be controlled. It is better to be a floating beam, cross the fenxi, and build a siege to refuse. Nothing to do with their intellect. Tuoba Gui accepted this strategy and set up a heavy siege on the west bank of Fenshui.
As An Tong expected, after Yao Xing arrived at Pusaka, he learned that the Northern Wei army had also set up a heavy siege on the west bank of Fenshui, and then feared that the Northern Wei army was strong, and as a result, it took a long time to march. After that, Yao Xing, as An Tong had expected, could only march from Mengkeng with a hard scalp. This gave Tuoba Jue a good opportunity to annihilate them, and on August Jiazi Day, Tuoba Jue led 30,000 infantry cavalry to attack Yao Xing's army south of Mengkeng, killing more than a thousand Later Qin. Yao Xing was forced to retreat for more than forty miles, and Yao Ping did not dare to take the opportunity of Yao Xing's approach to break through, missing the best escape opportunity. Because after this, Tuoba Jue sent an army to divide the dangerous positions and strictly prevent Yao Xing's troops from approaching Chaibi again. Of course, Yao Xing did not want to concede defeat, he stationed the main force west of Fenshui, built a camp barrier by virtue of the valley, and bundled together the surrounding cypress trees and other timber, and threw it into the river from the upper reaches of the Fenshui River, so that it could go down the river, intending to destroy the pontoon bridge built by the Northern Wei army on the Fenshui River, but the Northern Wei army fished the wood for firewood.
By October, Yao Ping had been besieged in Chaibi for several months, the grain and grass had been eaten, and the arrows were exhausted, in order to survive, Yao Ping could only concentrate all the soldiers and horses to break through to the southwest, and Yao Xing also set up a posture on the west bank of the Fenshui River, holding up beacons and drums in response. But strangely, neither Yao Ping nor Yao Xing took any further action, and it turned out that their ideas were inconsistent. Yao Xing wanted Yao Ping to fight hard to break through, while Yao Ping hoped that Yao Xing would launch an attack on the Northern Wei encirclement to meet them. In this way, the two sides could only shout and echo in the same place, but they did not dare to approach the siege of Northern Wei. By this time, Yao Ping knew that there was no hope of a breakthrough and that he had no way to do anything about it, so he led his men to jump into Fenshui and commit suicide. Tuoba Jue, who saw this scene, sent someone who was good at swimming to scoop up Yao Pingren's body. As for more than 40 generals and more than 20,000 soldiers, such as Di Bozhi and Tang Xiaofang, who were still in Chaibi City, they all became tuoba's prisoners.
Yao Xing on the west bank of Fenshui also witnessed all this, but he could do nothing but sit back and watch the chaibi fall and Yao Pingren commit suicide. Later Qin's entire army was even more demoralized, and began to weep in sorrow, and the cries shook the entire valley. At this point, Qin was no longer able to fight again, so Yao Xing sent envoys to seek peace many times, but they were all rejected by Tuoba Jue, who once took advantage of the victory to attack Pusaka, but fortunately, With Yao Xu's stubborn defense, the Northern Wei attack failed. Just when Yao Xing was still worried about how to resist Tuoba Jue, Tuoba Jue withdrew his army, and it turned out that Rouran had come to make trouble again. #Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties ##历史 #