PFC Chapter 322: Wenwu Temple
Chapter 322: Wenwu Temple
However, Xunyang prefect Feng Daogen believed that the risk of directly attacking the elite vanguard of the Northern Wei Dynasty was too great. Failure would undermine the morale of the entire army. It would be better to wait and find an opportunity.
Chen Qianzhi's idea was the opposite. He believed that the enemy had just arrived and was exhausted. The two armies were far away, so the enemy must be unguarded. Taking advantage of the fact that their army had not yet assembled, he would surely win by taking them by surprise.
Therefore, Chen Qingzhi took advantage of the dense forests and led 200 cavalrymen to attack the vanguard of the Northern Wei army at night. The Wei army was panicked and its morale was greatly reduced.
After Chen Qingzhi returned, he gathered with the generals. The Northern Wei army had been confronting them for a year and fought hundreds of battles, but they were still unable to break through, which made the Wei army tired and their morale gradually low.
However, the Wei army still had no intention of retreating, and built 13 camps behind the Liang army. At this time, the Liang army was also seriously exhausted. Cao Zhongzong was worried about being attacked from both sides by the Northern Wei, so he wanted to withdraw his troops.
Chen Qingzhi immediately refuted after hearing this, saying that retreating in the face of danger was not a way to achieve success. Wouldn't it be a waste of a large number of weapons and food for the soldiers?
It would be better to inspire the fighting spirit of the army when they are surrounded by the enemy. The soldiers will fight to the death to survive, which will give them a chance to win. Cao Zhongzong was very impressed by Chen Qingzhi's words and listened to his advice.
Later, when the enemy had not yet launched a siege, Chen Qianzhi took the lead in leading the cavalry to attack the four castles of the Wei army under the cover of night and captured them all.
The morale of the Liang army was greatly shaken. The Wei army in Woyang was terrified upon hearing the news, so they secretly surrendered the city. Woyang was occupied by the Liang army. At this time, the enemy had only 9 castles left, but they had superior weapons and armor.
Chen Qianzhi did not attack blindly, but released 30 Northern Wei surrendered soldiers and asked them to go to various camps to report the news that Woyang had fallen.
The purpose of the Northern Wei's military expedition this time was to provide reinforcements to Woyang, but the news of Woyang's fall made them lose their direction. They could not decide whether to attack or defend, and they were at a loss for a while.
Chen Qingzhi took advantage of the chaos of the enemy army and suddenly sounded the drums of war. The Wei army fled in panic under the fierce attack of the Liang army, and all nine castles were defeated. Chen Qingzhi took advantage of the situation to pursue and killed tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and captured more than 9 people. At this point, Chen Qingzhi became famous.
In 528, the Northern Wei royal family was in turmoil, Erzhu Rong led troops to suppress the rebellion and massacred many people. Yuan Hao, the King of Beihai in the Northern Wei, was afraid of being implicated, so he defected to the Liang Dynasty.
For political reasons, Xiao Yan planned to use Yuan Hao to expand his territory to the north, at least to establish a defensive buffer zone between Wei and Liang. Therefore, Xiao Yan named Yuan Hao the King of Wei and ordered Chen Qingzhi to escort him to Luoyang to ascend the throne.
Xiao Yan originally did not have much hope for Yuan Hao, so he only gave Chen Qingzhi 7000 troops. It may be because Chen Qingzhi wore a white robe, and so did every soldier following him, that the White Robe Army got its name.
In March 529, the Northern Wei Dynasty was in chaos and the scale of the rebellion was very large, so Erzhu Rong led a large army to suppress the rebellion. Chen Qingzhi found that the Northern Wei Dynasty's garrison was weak, so he led his army north in April.
Qiu Daqian, a general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, led 7 troops to defend the city, but Chen Qingzhi broke through three cities in one day and Qiu Daqian was forced to surrender. In order to stop Chen Qingzhi from continuing to move north, Yuan Tianmu of the Northern Wei Dynasty also led 2 troops to station in Kaocheng, which was surrounded by water.
Yuan Tianmu thought that Chen Qingzhi's 7000 troops would not be able to conquer the city with natural defenses. However, Chen Qingzhi built fortifications on the water and annihilated all 2 Wei troops in one fell swoop. Yuan Tianmu was defeated.
When Chen Qingzhi arrived in Xingyang, he was resisted by 7 Yulin troops led by Yang Yu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and was unable to break through.
The internal war situation in the Northern Wei Dynasty also suddenly changed. Erzhu Rong used 7000 elite troops to wipe out Ge Rong's hundreds of thousands of rebel troops. At the same time, he defeated Xiao Baoyin who ruled Chang'an. Other rebellions were also suppressed one after another.
Afterwards, Erzhu Rong began to gather all his forces to deal with Chen Qingzhi. He ordered Yuan Tianmu to lead a large army to Xingyang, and ordered Erzhu Shilon to lead 1 troops to station at Hulao Pass to cut off Chen Qingzhi's retreat.
It can be said that the Northern Wei mobilized the most elite military forces in the country this time. At this time, Erzhu Rong, a military genius, wanted to wipe out Chen Qingzhi at the gate of Xingyang City.
At this time, Chen Qingzhi was surrounded by the enemy, and the Liang army soldiers began to waver. He asked the soldiers to rest for a while and analyzed the situation for them. He believed that the army led by Yuan Tianmu was all cavalry, and it was impossible to fight with them on the plain, otherwise they would be defeated.
Their only hope was to capture Xingyang before Yuan Tianmu launched his attack. At the same time, he told all the soldiers to fight to the death and not to hesitate, otherwise they would be slaughtered by the enemy.
These words instantly excited the 7000 soldiers. So at Chen Qingzhi's command, they immediately launched an attack on Xingyang. All the soldiers were extremely brave and finally captured Xingyang before Yuan Tianmu formed an encirclement.
Afterwards, Chen Qingzhi led another 3000 troops to attack Yuan Tianmu before he could gain a foothold.
Yuan Tianmu was very surprised. He did not expect that Chen Qianzhi would give up the advantageous terrain of the city wall and take the initiative to attack an army that was several times larger than his own.
The Northern Wei army was caught off guard and was completely defeated. Yuan Tianmu led more than 10 cavalrymen to flee north in panic. Chen Qingzhi ordered his soldiers to enter Hulao Pass, which frightened Erzhu Shilong out of his wits.
Yuan Tianmu was defeated even with such an advantage, let alone his own army of only 1. So Erzhu Shilong did not hesitate at all and fled directly.
In this battle, Chen Qingzhi was like a god in the hearts of the Northern Wei generals, and directly frightened Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei and fled to Qinyang, Henan. 65 days after Yuan Hao entered Luoyang, Erzhu Rong once again assembled an army of 30 and personally commanded it, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.
In order to gain the strategic initiative, Chen Qianzhi led his 7000 white-robed troops across the Yellow River and once again created a military miracle under the city of Zhonglang, launching 11 battles with the enemy within three days.
Erzhu Rong's men suffered heavy casualties. Later, the Northern Wei army did not dare to confront Chen Qianzhi head-on, so they secretly crossed the Yellow River, bypassed Zhonglang City, and directly captured Luoyang.
Yuan Hao fled. Chen Qingzhi's 7000 white-robed soldiers became an isolated army. Then, Chen Qingzhi decided to return to Liang. The war against Wei was declared over.
However, the 50 white-robed soldiers, who could not defeat the 7000-strong army, encountered a flash flood on the way. The entire team was severely damaged, and Chen Qianzhi became the survivor of this natural disaster.
In order to avoid the pursuit of the Northern Wei, he returned to Southern Liang disguised as a monk, and Xiao Yan rewarded him greatly. As the General of the Right Guard, he continued to defend the territory of Southern Liang, and finally died in 539 at the age of 56.
[The only all-round talent in ancient times, what did he do, why was he called a time traveler? Historical trivia and historical figures]
He is the inventor of ancient Chinese mechanical equipment, the direct ancestor of the steam hammer in China, and the builder of the first floating bridge in China. He stood on the Yellow River for more than 800 years and was called a steel factory.
However, this weak minister with almost zero military power can be listed in the ancient temple together with famous generals such as Guan Yu and Bai Qi. In this video, we will learn about this little-known figure of the Western Jin Dynasty.
The Temple of Confucius and the Temple of Martial Arts are memorial sites established by successive dynasties in China to commemorate people who have made outstanding contributions. They are the highest spiritual destinations pursued by ancient civil officials and military generals.
However, in the long history of our country, not many people have been able to enter the Wen and Wu Temples. The Wen Temple includes Confucius, Mencius, etc., and the Wu Temple includes Jiang Ziya, Bai Qi, Guan Yu, etc.
According to such high standards, it is obviously impossible to enter Wenwu Temple without some real skills.
There was a person named Du Yu in history. He was far less famous than Guan Yu and Bai Qi. Many people didn't even know of his existence. However, he was the only person who could be listed in both the Temple of Literature and the Temple of Martial Arts.
Du Yu was born in 222 in Xi'an, Shaanxi. His grandfather was Du Ji, a famous official of the Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, and his father Du Shu was a court official during the reign of Emperor Ming of Wei. He also had a very famous descendant, the great Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu.
Let us first look at why he was included in the Confucian Temple. Although Du Yu had a good family background, he did not become a playboy. He read widely and studied extensively since he was young, and had a very high level of invention, creation, and engineering construction.
The mortar he invented was a water-powered grain processing tool. During the Tang Dynasty, people widely used this tool to process anything that needed to be crushed, such as medicines, spices, and even minerals, saving a lot of manpower.
The steam hammer that appeared in France in 1836 can be directly descended from the Lianji pestle. Du Yu also invented a new type of bellows, which is what we now call a bellows.
This was definitely a smelting artifact at the time. In fact, the bellows had been invented before him, but due to its large size, it could only be driven by horsepower, and the exhaust efficiency was not very high.
According to historical records, this device could smelt more than 100 kilograms of iron with 100 horses. Later, Han Ji of the Eastern Han Dynasty improved this tool and could smelt 360 kilograms of iron in the same amount of time by using water power.
When it came to Du Yu, he directly changed it into a new type of human-powered bellows box driven by both manpower and water. It not only reduced the size, but also greatly improved the efficiency, making a huge contribution to the subsequent weapon casting and other aspects.
There is a sentence in history books that contains a lot of philosophy about life and governing a country: "When there is little water, it is light; when it is moderate, it is straight; when it is full, it overturns." This sentence comes from the machine invented by Du Yu. Its principle is similar to that of an hourglass, except that the machine is filled with water.
When water drops into it, it tilts when the amount is small, straightens when the amount is medium, and reverses when it is full, and then repeats the cycle with the empty body facing upwards. This invention was often placed by the emperor next to the throne and was called the "Emperor's motto".
The first floating bridge in Chinese history was also created by Du Yu, namely the Fupingjin Yellow River Floating Bridge. He believed that the Yellow River in Mengjin was deep and turbulent, and often flooded here. His grandfather Du Ji was killed here by Cao Pi.
Therefore, in order to solve the traffic problem in Luoyang, Du Yu wrote to Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, in 274 AD, requesting to personally build a floating bridge at Fupingjin.
Emperor Wu of Jin once discussed this matter with all his officials, but was opposed by everyone. However, Du Yu insisted on his own opinion and overcame all objections. Finally, he built the first floating bridge in history here, which was used for more than 800 years and can be called a steel project.
After the floating bridge was built, Emperor Wu of Jin led hundreds of officials to visit the site, but Du Yu humbly gave the credit to Sima Yan.
He also had great achievements in astronomy, but there are not many records about him in history books. It is only said that Du Yu discovered that the calendar in use at that time did not match the length of the sun's shadow projected on the sundial.
After calculations, the errors were corrected and the Eryuan Calendar was revised. After verification, it became popular, so Du Yu became particularly fond of Zuo Zhuan, even to the point of being obsessed with it.
He wrote 18 volumes of annotations for the 30-word "Zuo Zhuan", which is also the earliest annotation of "Zuo Zhuan" that has been passed down to this day.
Before Sima Yan established the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Zhao entrusted Pei Xiu and Du Yu to reform the rituals, laws and official positions. Although Jia Chong was nominally the chief official, the heaviest work was done by Du Yu.
This is the "Prohibition" issued by Sima Yan after he established the Western Jin Dynasty. All the annotations in it were from Du Yu, and it had a great influence on the feudal laws of later generations.
After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan was too indulgent towards the aristocratic families who were the pillars of his regime, which led to darkness and corruption within the court and officials at all levels shielding each other.
In order to eliminate this bad habit, Du Yu suggested to Sima Yan that an assessment system be implemented and a strict reward and punishment mechanism be established, mainly to assess the performance of officials over a period of six years, with the ultimate goal of survival of the fittest.
In addition, Du Yu proposed more than 50 suggestions to Emperor Wu of Jin on state and military management, including the construction of new warehouses, price adjustments, operational management, and border defense. All these measures were beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood, which is why Du Yu was listed in the Confucian Temple.
How could Du Yu, a civil official, become a member of the Temple of Martial Arts? Indeed, he was certainly not as powerful as Guan Yu, Bai Qi and other generals, but there is a saying in the song "Use strategy instead of fighting, one is worth ten thousand" that reflects Du Yu's ability to use troops and proves that he is good at strategy.
The Battle of Ping Wu was a very famous military feat in Du Yu's life. At that time, the country was not unified, and the Sun Wu regime still controlled the area south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
After Sima Yan established the Western Jin Dynasty, he always had the idea of sending troops to destroy Wu, but the opinions of the ministers in the court could not be unified.
Only Yang Hu, the commander of the imperial army, and a few other officials, such as Zhang Hua, agreed to go to war, while Jia Chong and others were always opposed. Therefore, Sima Yan was hesitant and missed many opportunities.
Later, Yang Hu fell seriously ill and was unable to lead the troops, and Sima Yan began to regret his indecision.
Before his death, Yang Hu recommended Du Yu to Sima Yan. On the one hand, it was because Du Yu always supported his idea of promoting war, and on the other hand, it was because Du Yu had outstanding military talents.
In November 278, Sima Yan decided to send troops to Eastern Wu and appointed Du Yu as the General of Zhennan, whose main task was to seize Jingzhou and other places.
At that time, Xiling was the western border town of Sun Wu, and its strategic location was very important. Lu Xun, a former general of Sun Wu, once said: "If Xiling is lost, Jingzhou will be lost."
Therefore, from Lu Xun to his son Lu Kang, they never relaxed their control over Xiling. It was not until after Lu Kang's death that the King of Wu, Sun Hao, gradually reduced the military forces here and had the general Zhang Zheng garrison there.