Chapter 35 126 Battle of Feishui

Hu Bin, the general sent by Xie An, led the navy to Shouyang along the Huai River.On the way, he learned that Shouyang had been captured by the former Qin forward Fu Rong.Hu Bin had no choice but to retreat to Xiashi (now southwest of Fengtai, Anhui), set up camp, and waited for Xie Shi and Xie Xuan's army to join up. After Fu Rong occupied Shouyang, he sent general Liang Cheng to lead 50,000 troops to attack Luojian (in the east of Huainan, Anhui today), cutting off the retreat of Hu Bin's navy.The Jin army was besieged, and the rations were running low day by day. The situation was very critical.

Hu Bin sent soldiers to secretly send a letter to Xie Shi for emergency, saying: "Now the enemy is coming very fiercely, and our army's food is almost running out. I'm afraid we won't be able to join the army." When the Jin soldiers who delivered the letter sneaked across the Qin army's position, they were caught by the Qin soldiers.This urgent letter fell into Fu Rong's hands, and Fu Rong immediately sent a fast horse to Xiangcheng to tell Fu Jian. Fu Jian became even more proud when he received good news from the forwards of the Qin army.He left the army in Xiangcheng, and personally led 8,000 cavalry to Shouyang, wishing to swallow the Jin army in one go.

When he arrived in Shouyang, he discussed with Fu Rong and thought that the Jin army was vulnerable, so he sent an envoy to the Jin army camp to persuade him to surrender. The envoy sent was none other than Zhu Xu who resolutely resisted the Qin army in Xiangyang a few years ago and was later captured. After Zhu Xu was captured, although he was employed by Fu Jian as a minister in Qin State, his heart was still towards the Jin Dynasty.He went to Jinying to meet Xie Shi and Xie Xuan, and was as happy as seeing his relatives. Instead of persuading Fu Jian to surrender, he provided Xie Shi with information about the Qin army.He said: "This time, Fu Jian launched a million troops to attack the state of Jin. If all the troops were concentrated, the Jin army might not be able to stop them. Now, before their troops are all assembled, you should attack quickly and defeat their vanguard." , dampen their morale, and they can defeat the Qin army."

After Zhu Xu left, Xie Shi thought again and again, thinking that the Qin army in Shouyang was very strong and he was not sure of victory, so it was better to stick to it.Xie An's son Xie Yan persuaded Xie Shi to listen to Zhu Xu's words and send troops as soon as possible. After some discussions, Xie Shi and Xie Xuan sent Liu Laozhi, a famous general of Beifu soldiers, to lead 5,000 elite soldiers to launch a surprise attack on the Qin army in Luojian first.This Beifu soldiers really lived up to their reputation, they crossed Luojian like a tiger with wings, all of them were brave and extraordinary.The Qin army guarding Luojian was no match for the Beifu soldiers. They barely resisted for a while and were defeated. Qin general Liang Cheng was killed by the Jin army.Qin's soldiers scrambled across the Huai River to escape, and most of them fell into the water and drowned.

Luojian's great victory greatly boosted the morale of the Jin army.Xie Shi and Xie Xuan ordered Liu Laozhi to continue to rescue Xiashi, and at the same time personally commanded the army to take advantage of the victory and advance until the east bank of Feishui (now Feihe River, south of Shouxian County, Anhui). Confronted with the Qin army stationed in Shouyang across the bank. After Fu Jian sent Zhu Xu to persuade him to surrender, he was triumphantly waiting for the surrender of the Jin army when he suddenly heard Luo Jian's fall, as if he had been hit on the head with a sap.He asked Fu Rong to accompany him to the Shouyang City Tower to see the situation on the other side.

Fu Jian glanced from the top of the city tower, and saw that the camps of the Jin army on the opposite bank were lined up neatly, and the Jin soldiers armed with swords and guns were patrolling back and forth.Looking farther away, on the opposite side of Bagong Mountain, there is a faint indistinct number of Jin soldiers.In fact, there were no Jin soldiers on Bagong Mountain, but Fu Jian had a guilty conscience and regarded all the vegetation on Bagong Mountain as Jin soldiers (in classical Chinese, "everything is a soldier"). Fu Jian was a little scared, he turned his head and said to Fu Rong: "This is indeed a powerful enemy! How can you say they are weak?"

After that, Fu Jian ordered the Qin soldiers to guard closely.The Jin army failed to cross the Feishui, Xie Shi and Xie Xuan were very anxious.If the delay continues, I am afraid that the arrival of all the Qin troops will be detrimental to the Jin army. Xie Xuan sent someone to send a letter to Fu Jian, saying: "You have led an army deep into Jin's position, but now you are setting up a formation by the Fei River and standing still. Is this because you want to fight? If you can send Move back a little bit to make room for our troops to cross the Feishui River, and the two sides will compete on the battlefield. This is courageous!"

Fu Jian thought, if we don't agree to retreat, isn't it admitting that we are afraid of the Jin army?He immediately summoned the generals of the Qin army and said: "They want us to give up a position, so let's withdraw. When they are crossing the river, we will send cavalry to charge up and keep them wiped out." Xie Shi and Xie Xuan received the reply from Fu Jian's agreement to retreat, quickly assembled their troops and prepared to cross the river to attack. When the agreed time to cross the river came, Fu Jian gave an order, and Fu Rong commanded the Qin army to retreat.They originally wanted to withdraw from a position and turned around to attack.Unexpectedly, many Qin soldiers ran away as soon as they heard the order to retreat, half because they hated war and half because they were afraid of the Jin army, never wanting to stop.

Xie Xuan led more than 8,000 cavalry, took advantage of the situation and quickly crossed the Fei River to attack the Qin army. At this time, Zhu Xu shouted from behind the Qin army formation: "The Qin army has been defeated! The Qin army has been defeated!" The soldiers behind did not know what was going on ahead. Shouting and running away. Fu Rong swung his sword angrily, trying to hold back his position, but the strange soldiers came back like a tide, so there was no way he could hold back.A group of rebels rushed forward and knocked down Fu Rong's horse. Fu Rong struggled to remember that Jin soldiers had already caught up from behind and chopped him down.As soon as the main general died, Qin Bing ran around like a frightened horse that had lost its rein.

Fu Jian, who was behind the battle, saw that the situation was not good, so he had no choice but to ride a horse and flee desperately.Unexpectedly, a stray arrow flew over and hit him in the shoulder.Regardless of the pain, Fu Jian continued to urge his horse to run wildly, until he fled to Huaibei before he breathed a sigh of relief. The Jin army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and the Qin soldiers fled desperately. The soldiers who were squeezed and trampled to death were all over the mountains and plains.Those soldiers who escaped heard the sound of the wind and the sound of cranes in the air along the way (the classical Chinese is "the sound of wind and cranes", and the sound of beeping li means the sound of cranes), which were also regarded as the shouts of the Eastern Jin pursuers, and they were too frightened to stop. .

Xie Shi and Xie Xuan regained Shouyang and sent flying horses to Jiankang to deliver the good news. On this day, Xie An was playing chess with a guest at home.After reading the good news sent by Xie Shi, without showing any signs of expression, he casually put the good news on the bed and continued to play chess. The guest knew that it was the battle report from the front, so he couldn't help asking Xie An, "How is the battle going?" Xie An said slowly, "The children finally defeated the Qin people." After hearing this, the guest was so happy that he didn't want to play chess any more. He wanted to tell others the good news quickly, so he bid farewell and left. Xie An saw off the guests and went back to the inner house. He couldn't hold back his excitement any longer. When he crossed the threshold, he staggered and broke the teeth of the clogs on his feet. After this war, the powerful former Qin was devastated.Fu Jian fled to Luoyang and packed up the remnants of the defeated generals, only a few hundred thousand remained.But Murong Chui's troops did not suffer any loss.As expected by Wang Meng, Murongchui of the Xianbei tribe and Yao Chang of the Qiang tribe finally betrayed the former Qin Dynasty and established new countries respectively - Later Yan and Later Qin. Fu Jian himself was killed by Yao Chang.