Stirring for four hundred years: Yu Liangzhi was a great talent who neglected to mobilize troops, and Sima Yan rewarded and punished unclear prestige

This article is the 114th in a long series, Four Hundred Years of Turmoil

If He Chong is a righteous gentleman, then Yu Bing, who runs the government with him, is a model worker.

After Yu Bing took on a heavy responsibility, he governed government affairs day and night, was courteous to the court's courtiers, and spared no effort to promote and advance, so people in the government and the public praised him as a virtuous minister.

When Wang Dao assisted in the administration of the dynasty, he adopted a lenient attitude toward his subordinates, yu Bing often relied on majestic punishment orders, danyang Yin Yinrong advised him to be more tolerant, Yu Bing said: "With the kindness of the former chancellor, he is still not qualified for Kuan Hong, let alone people like me!" ”

Fan Wang said to Yu Bing: "Not long ago, the celestial phenomena were confused and out of place, and countermeasures should be taken to eliminate and defend at the foot. Yu Bing said, "Xuan'ao's celestial signs are something I can predict, and this should be done diligently." "Always adhere to their own governing philosophy."

In view of the fact that many of the displaced people did not have household registrations, Yu Bing began to verify the household registrations and cleared out more than 10,000 people without names to enrich the army.

However, Yu Bing liked to issue procuratorial matters, which were close to complexity, and later overcorrected, and relaxed and conniving, loose or strict, all of which were unexpected, and the decree gradually became empty.

In the fifth year of Xiankang (339 AD), on the tenth day of August, the Eastern Jin Dynasty changed the position of chancellor to Situ again, and Yu Bing's power declined, which also implied the dissatisfaction of the imperial court with him.

A month after Wang Dao's death, Xi Jian also died of illness. Before his death, he submitted to the imperial court and suggested that Cai Mo take his place.

Sima Yan honored his last wishes, and immediately after Xi Jian's death, he appointed Cai Mo as the general of Zhengbei, the governor of Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou, and the military history of Xuzhou.

More than a month later, Wang Dao and Xi Jian died one after another, and although He Chong, Yu Bing, Cai Mo and others filled their vacancies one after another, some people still felt that this was a good opportunity for progress.

How can we make rapid progress? There is no better way to do this than to make military merits and recover lost ground.

The first to jump out was the Left Guard general Chen Guang, who took the initiative to request a crusade against Hou Zhao. Sima Yan agreed, and ordered him to attack Shouyang. But under Cai Mo's opposition, the plan came to an abrupt end.

The second one who jumped out was Yu Liang, and at his insistence, he sent Mao Bao and Fan Junshu to defend the city.

Located north of the Yangtze River, Yicheng is the only way to enter the north from Wuchang. As early as when Tao Kan was guarding Wuchang, some people believed that there was a city on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the troops should be divided to defend it. Tao Kan ignored it, but there were still people who often mentioned the matter.

Therefore, Tao Kan, under the pretext of crossing the river to hunt, summoned general Zuo and said to them: "The reason why I set up a dangerous obstacle to defend the enemy is precisely because there is the Yangtze River." On the north bank of the Yangtze River, The city itself has no natural danger, and the external border with Later Zhao is more related to them. If we covet small profits, Hou Zhao will definitely lead troops to invade. Moreover, Wu Guo had originally used 30,000 soldiers to defend this city, and even if he sent troops to defend it now, it would have little significance to Jiangnan, but it would attract the invasion of Later Zhao. ”

Tao Kan's meaning is very clear, Yicheng is a piece of chicken ribs, tasteless food, and it is a pity to abandon it.

Sure enough, when Shi Hu learned that Yu Liang had sent people to defend The City, he appointed Fu An as the governor of Dadu, leading five generals Shi Jian, Shi Min, Li Nong, Zhang Yuan, and Li Jing to invade the northern border of Jingzhou and Yangzhou, and sending 20,000 cavalry to attack the city.

Mao Bao urgently asked Yu Liang for help, but Yu Liang believed that the city was strong and did not send troops in time.

In September, Shi Min defeated the Jin army at Qiunan and killed the general Cai Huai; Fu'an and Li Nong attacked Huannan, and Zhu Bao killed Zheng Bao and five other generals at Baishi; Zhang Cun captured the city of Qicheng, and 6,000 jin soldiers died in battle; Mao Bao and Fan Jun broke through and fled, drowning while crossing the river.

Subsequently, Fu'an entered Huting and invaded Jiangxia, and the Yiyang generals Huang Chong and Yiyang Taishou Zhengjin surrendered without a fight, and Fu'an continued to advance and besieged Shicheng.

Just when ChuAn was about to kill the four sides, someone finally stopped his progress. Li Yang sent troops to resist, defeated Chu'an, and beheaded more than 5,000 people, and only then did He'an retreat, taking advantage of the situation to plunder the east of the Han River, and abducting more than 7,000 households to migrate to Youzhou and Jizhou.

At this time, Yu Liang was still trying to move the town guard to Shicheng, but heard that The city had fallen, so he gave up.

For the sake of a small city, the loss of soldiers, countless cities, and mao Bao, a brave and good general, Yu Liang's aggressive move was a failure, he took the initiative to apologize to Sima Yan, begged to be demoted to the third rank, and took the post of general of Anxi.

Only then did we know tao kan's wisdom at that time, and how could the conspirators of the country be able to use their arrogance when they took charge of the overall situation?

However, Sima Yan still did not punish Yu Liang, and issued an edict to restore him to his original position, and also appointed his younger brother Yu Yi as the Assassin of Yu Prefecture, supervising the military forces of the four counties of Xuancheng, Lujiang, Liyang, and Anfeng, and guarding Wuhu.

Although Sima Yan did not hold him accountable, Yu Liang could not pass his own level, and successive decision-making mistakes led to heavy losses, and he became depressed and eventually died.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the sixth year of Xiankang (340 AD), Yu Liang died at the age of fifty-one. China has always paid attention to the conclusion of the coffin, so how to evaluate Yu Liang's life?

First of all, I don't want to see him as a traitor. Whether he crusaded against Su Jun or went north into the Central Plains, it was not for personal gain, or not entirely, or even a positive and promising performance.

However, his two decisions objectively brought great disasters to the Eastern Jin court, especially the Rebellion of Su Jun, which almost led to the demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, it only takes four words to evaluate Yu Liang, and Zhi Dacai is sparse.

If it was a normal dynasty, Yu Liang should have killed his head a long time ago, but the Eastern Jin Dynasty court did not even say anything, so the reward and punishment are unknown, how to give orders?

After Yu Liang's death, Sima Yan appointed He Chong as Zhongshu Ling,and also appointed Yu Liang's other younger brother Yu Yi as the governor of Jiangzhou, Jingzhou, Sizhou, Yongzhou, Liangzhou, Yizhou, Anxi, Jingzhou, and False Festival, replacing Yuliang's town of Wuchang.

It can be seen that although the Yu Liang brothers made a mess of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan chose to trust them. For several uncles, Sima Yan really had nothing to say.

This year, Yu Yi was only thirty-five years old, and both the government and the public suspected that he was too young to inherit the performance of his brother Yu Liang.

Yu Yi seemed to be aware of the doubts of the outside world, and he was devoted to governance, military and government affairs were very strict, and within a few years, the government and private resources were enriched, and finally received the recognition of the government and the public.

After this painful lesson, the Eastern Jin court finally temporarily gave up the idea of the Northern Expedition. But the tree wants to be quiet and the wind is not stopping, for Shi Hu, it is the head that you take the initiative to pick, is it so calculated?

You must be made to pay a heavier price, let you know who is the great master in the end, Shi Hu is brewing a bigger action, and even wants to destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty.