In the history of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, almost every generation of powerful ministers organized the Northern Expedition when they came to power, and Xie An, as a generation of famous ministers, was no exception. In fact, among the many Northern Expeditions of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the closest to success was the Northern Expedition organized by Xie An and Xie Xuan. They followed up with the opportunity after the Battle of Shuishui and opened the prelude to the Northern Expedition, not only restoring the land occupied by Former Qin before the Battle of Shuishui, but also recovering most of the Central Plains, and the farthest force reached The city of Yicheng in Jizhou. If the Northern Expedition can be sustained and the Eastern Jin court adopts Xie Xuan's proposal, then the restoration of national unity in the Western Jin Dynasty is just around the corner. However, the Northern Expedition also ended in failure, and after Xie Xuan went into the wilderness, the land acquired by the Eastern Jin Dynasty was also occupied by the minority regimes in the north.
In the Battle of Shuishui, Xie An strategized, Xie Xuanlin commanded, and the uncles and nephews cooperated to fight the most dazzling battle in the history of ancient Chinese warfare. This battle not only shattered the plan of the Former Qin Emperor Jian Jian to unify the world, but also caused the early collapse of the Former Qin Empire, and also created the best fighter for the Northern Expedition of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In this war situation, Xie An resolutely wrote to request the Northern Expedition and began the process of restoring the country.
The Northern Expedition marched north in three ways, with the Middle East Route Army headed by Xie Xuan and the Central and Western Route Army led by huan's generals. Xie Xuan marched north from Guangling, with the Beifu soldiers as the main force, and recaptured Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Sizhou, and Yuzhou, and the soldiers were outside the important town of Yicheng in Jizhou. The Huan two roads conquered Luyang and Luoyang, recovered Liangzhou and Yizhou, and the hinterland of the Central Plains was incorporated into the territory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
The results of this Northern Expedition were unprecedented success for the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which had been in a quiet corner for many years, and was not only the greatest achievement of the Eastern Jin Dynasty against the ethnic minorities in the north, but also the closest to success in several Northern Expeditions. At the same time, the Northern Expedition fell into a scuffle because of the defeat at the Battle of Shuishui. The Former Qin Empire collapsed, the emperor Jian Jian was hanged by the Qiang leader Yao Cang at Xinping Temple, and the armies of the Qiang people everywhere were besieged by the Xianbei, Western Qiang, Wuhuan, Ding Zhi and other tribes, and the country's demise was imminent. This was extremely beneficial to the Northern Expedition of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it was reasonable for the Eastern Jin court to seize the opportunity to increase its input and redouble its efforts to complete the strategic plan of expelling the ethnic minorities in the north and reunifying China and restoring the national territory of the Western Jin Dynasty.
However, when Xie Xuan and others won victories one after another, there were voices of opposition in the imperial court, believing that the use of troops was excessive, and it was necessary to stop the pace of the Northern Expedition and let the country recuperate. The northern expedition of Xie An and Xie Xuan thus stopped, and in the end it failed to achieve complete victory. A large amount of land acquired in the course of the Northern Expedition was gradually lost after Xie Xuan went into the wilderness, and was reoccupied by the separatist regime of the ethnic minorities in the north.
Such an ending made many people who read history books feel lamented, and they were also angry at the inaction of the Eastern Jin court. However, analyzing the reasons for the failure of the Northern Expedition, different scholars have given different opinions. Some believe that it is difficult for the Eastern Jin Dynasty to support the long-term Northern Expedition, and some believe that it is a drag on the infighting among the Gate Valve clans in the imperial court. In fact, from the historical point of view, the above is not the main contradiction, and the reason for the failure of the Northern Expedition lies in the Sima imperial family.
It can be found from the division of power of the Eastern Jin court during the Northern Expedition that this time is completely different from the failure of the Previous Northern Expedition such as Zu Ti, Yu Yi, Yin Hao, and Huan Wen. As mentioned above, the reason for the failure of Huan Wen and others was dragged down by the infighting among the Eastern Jin Dynasty Gate Valve Clan, and the Gate Valve Clan dragged each other back for their own interests, resulting in the Northern Expeditionary Army lacking soldiers and logistical support in the rear, and eventually had to return home.
However, Xie An and Xie Xuan's Northern Expedition was different from the past, because this Northern Expedition was quite well prepared, and the Menmen clan was relatively united within the clan. In fact, before the Battle of Shuishui, Xie An made a lot of political preparations. These efforts were not directed at the Battle of Shuishui, but to lay the foundation for the Northern Expedition. It was only the sudden outbreak of the Battle of Shuishui that turned these preparations into resources for the war.
Before the Battle of Shuishui, Xie An, with his strong political ability, changed the pattern of confrontation between the Mongol clans in the Eastern Jin Dynasty court. He did not adopt the strategy of Wang Dao, Yu Liang, Huan Wen and other powerful ministers who had always suppressed other door valves, but created a balance between the door valve clans in the imperial court. In this situation, the Langya Wang clan, the Taiyuan Wang clan, the Huan clan of Chen Guo, the Xie clan of Chen Jun, and other door valve clans were relatively balanced, and each controlled power, forming a rare situation of political stability. This situation not only made the political situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty stable and socially prosperous, but also allowed the Eastern Jin court to unite and unite with the outside world, which also laid the foundation for the Eastern Jin Dynasty to win the Battle of Shuishui. Therefore, from the Battle of Shuishui to the Post-War Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, the Menmen clan was relatively united.
The Battle of Shuishui won a great victory in the Middle East, and Xie An took advantage of the situation to open the prelude to the Northern Expedition. For the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which had long been suppressed by Former Qin, this Northern Expedition was rejoiced by the whole country. In this process, the Gate Valve Clan was also relatively united, and the military and political preparations were also very sufficient, so Xie Xuan could continue to achieve great victories. In the face of such constant victories, the power of the Gate Valve Clan was extremely inflated, which aroused the vigilance of the Sima Imperial Clan. As a result, Xie An and Xie Xuan were under political pressure from Sima Yao, the Emperor of Xiaowu, and Sima Daozi, the Prince of Huiji, who politically hampered the implementation of the Northern Expedition. As a result, Xie An and Xie Xuan were forced to suspend the Northern Expedition plan, give up their power and go to the wilderness, and the Chen Junxi clan that was in power gradually withdrew from the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Analyzing the causes and consequences of these events, it can be found that Xie An made a serious mistake politically, that is, to support Sima Yao, the Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Emperor Xiaowu Sima Yao was the son of Sima Yu, the Emperor of Jianwen, and was single-handedly supported by Xie An to the throne. At that time, the powerful minister Huan Wen was in power, and Sima Yu also proposed that Huan Wen follow the example of the Duke of Zhou in regency. As a result, there was chaos in the DPRK, and various political struggles were launched around the new emperor, and there were even rumors that Huan Wen wanted to usurp the throne and establish himself as emperor. It was Xie An and Wang Biaozhi who stood up and supported Sima Yao smoothly. Xie An then controlled the government as prime minister, which led to the rapid recovery of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's national strength, the political stability of the imperial court, the temporary quelling of the door valve struggle, and a brief period of prosperity.
Xie An ruled for more than ten years, gradually returning the affairs of the imperial court to the emperor, making Sima Yao one of the few emperors in the Eastern Jin Dynasty who could control the power. In fact, since the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there are only a few emperors who can control the power. Sima Rui, the emperor of jin yuan, ruled under the leadership of the Wang clan of Langya, and most of the power in his hands was in the hands of Wang Dao and Wang Dun. Among the later emperors, except for the brief Jin Ming emperor Sima Shao, the others were puppet emperors. The power of these puppet emperors is either in the hands of the powerful ministers, or the empress dowager and the powerful ministers cooperate in ruling, and the emperors are all decorations. Sima Yao was able to control the Eastern Jin Dynasty entirely because of Xie An's support and initiative to delegate power. With xie an's support, the Sima royal family gradually regained strength, and Sima Yao let his younger brother Sima Daozi enter the center of the imperial court.
Therefore, during Xie An's reign, the Sima imperial family was the most powerful in the dynasty, which exceeded the period when Huan Wen and Sima Yu were in power together. Before the Battle of Shuishui, the whole country was bent on fighting against the millions of troops of Jian Jian, and the Sima clan and the Mengmen clan advanced and retreated together, and naturally fully supported Xie An. After the Battle of Keshui, Xie An set off a climax of the Northern Expedition, and Xie Xuan broke through in the Northern Expedition, which aroused the vigilance of the Sima imperial family. They feared that Xie An would use the momentum of the Northern Expedition to regain power again, making Xie Xuan their heir. In this way, the Chen Junxie clan was the second Huan clan of the Chenguo, which would threaten Sima Yao, who had just seized imperial power. Therefore, under the persuasion of Sima Daozi and other members of the imperial family, Sima Yao began to use the imperial power to drag Xie An's hind legs.
At that time, Xie An concentrated on the Northern Expedition war on the one hand, trying to let Xie Xuan complete the task of recovering the old country, on the other hand, he also had to balance the power of the Mengmen clan and prevent the Huan clan, the Wang clan and other clans from plunging the imperial court into infighting, so there was no restriction and control over Sima Yao's power. Sima Yao took advantage of this power gap to arrange for Sima Daozi to share Xie An's power in the middle of the dynasty, and hindered the Northern Expedition plan presided over by Xie An. Faced with Sima Yao's suspicions and the framing of Sima Daozi and others, Xie An had to give up the power of the chancellor and asked himself to march north to Juguangling. After Xie An's death, Sima Daozi naturally became the Governor of Yangzhou, the Governor of TheOry of Shangshu, and the Governor of chinese and foreign militaries, controlling the power of the dynasty. Without Xie An's support, Xie Xuan's Northern Expedition could not be fought, and could only be abandoned halfway.
Ostracized by the court's important ministers headed by Sima Daozi, Xie Xuan had to give up his military power and retire to audit the history of the interior, and died a year later. Xie Xuan's withdrawal also marked the complete withdrawal of the Xie clan from the Eastern Jin Dynasty of Chen County, and the fruits of the Northern Expedition were also divided among Sima Daozi and others. However, Sima Yao's actions were not to restore the old kingdom or to make the Eastern Jin Dynasty strong, but only to compete for imperial power. After he regained the imperial power, he did not exert great efforts, but indulged in false prosperity, and finally even killed by his own concubines. Sima Daozi and others were a virtuous person with Sima Yao, and they would not do anything but infighting, and in the end they could only throw the northern territory to the separatist regime of the ethnic minorities, wasting the painstaking efforts of Xie Xuan and the soldiers of the Northern Province.