Chen Qingzhi, a general of Liang in the Southern Dynasty. His courtesy name was Ziyun, and his birth and death years were 484-539. He was from Yixing Guoshan (now Yixing, Jiangsu). Because he was born in a poor family, he was not worthy of use for many years. He started to lead troops independently at the age of 41. He had only 15 years of combat career. He was a follower of Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan at a young age. Later, he became a general of Wuwei. Chen Qingzhi was weak in body, difficult to open ordinary bows and crossbows, and was not good at riding horses and shooting arrows, but he was brave, good at planning, and good at leading troops, and was deeply loved by the public. Chen Qingzhi was cautious in character, and every time he was obedient, he had to wash and receive; he lived a frugal life, only wearing plain clothes, and was not good at silk and bamboo. Although he was a military general, he was good at pacifying his soldiers and could make his subordinates die for him. He was a gentle and elegant general who was both hard and soft.

[Edit this section] Life and deeds

Early life experience

Chen Qingzhi may be the son of a commoner or a small official (Xiao Yan later wrote in his edict to praise him that "it was not a general or a noble family.") In ancient China, especially in the period after the Jin and Sui Dynasty, the dividing line between commoners (lower-level landlords or scholars) and geniuses (high-level landlords or scholars) was quite strict, and commoners did not have much chance of making a name for themselves. Moreover, his martial arts skills were very poor: "There is no piercing, and horses are not convenient." Therefore, Chen Qingzhi's teenager, perhaps middle-aged, spent as a palace servant. The emperor at that time was Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang. Chen Qingzhi followed the emperor for more than 20 years: "Gaozu was a good chess, and he stayed up every night and had sex. However, Qingzhi did not sleep, and he came to hear the call, and even praised him." But his resume in the first half of his life was blank except this.

First battle with Woyang

It was not until 525 AD that Chen Qingzhi had the first chance to lead troops in his life. That year he was already forty-two years old. Moreover, he was appointed General Wuwei and other generals to welcome the rebellion of the Xuzhou governor Yuan Faseng of the Northern Wei Dynasty. He did not fight. Immediately, Xiao Yan appointed Chen Qingzhi as General Xuanmeng, and Commander Wende led 2,000 troops to escort Yuzhang King Xiao Zong to take over Xuzhou. Of course, the Northern Wei Dynasty could not lose the strategic location of Xuzhou. Two royal family members Yuan Yanming and Yuan X led 20,000 troops to set up camps in Zhikou area to prepare for advance. After Chen Qingzhi received the news, he approached the enemy's camp and rushed to attack directly. This was the first battle he actually fought, and it was probably the closest battle in all his battles to the enemy. The result of the battle was that the 20,000 troops of two hundred horses were defeated and fled by Chen Qingzhi's two thousand horses in a drum.

Originally, the outcome of this battle was decided, but Chen Qingzhi's direct superior Xiao Zong's mother Wu Shuyuan (not her real name, harem palace name) was probably the concubine of Xiao Baojuan, the last emperor of Qi. She gave birth to Xiao Zong seven months after following Xiao Yan. "There are doubts in the palace." Later, Wu told Xiao Zong that Xiao Zong himself began to suspect that he was actually Xiao Baojuan's child. So according to the folk customs at that time, he secretly dug up Xiao Baojuan's grave and dripped Xiao Baojuan's bones with his own blood. "It is said that the dead are blood drained into the bones, and the dead are penetrated, and they are father and son." The result is indeed

He still didn't believe it, so he killed one of his sons and "take his bones to try it out", and then he penetrated it again. Xiao Zong believed it deeply. Xiao Yan's brother's family was killed by Xiao Baojuan, and Xiao Baojuan's family was killed by Xiao Yan. The two families with the surname Xiao were deeply hatred like the sea. Since Xiao Zong recognized that he was Baojuan's son and Bao Yin's nephew, he brought a few people to Yanming's tent overnight. The commander surrendered to the enemy at the battle, and no matter how hard Chen Qingzhi tried, it was useless, so he had to cut the pass and retreat. Both countries knew the name Chen Qingzhi from then on.

In 527 AD, Chen Qingzhi attacked Woyang from Cao Zhongzong. He led few troops but had false responsibilities and could participate in military aircraft. He was probably a kind of military supervisor. The Northern Wei sent his royal family Yuan Zhao and others to lead 150,000 troops to rescue, and the front army rushed to Tuojian. Chen Qingzhi, who had only 200 subordinates at that time, suggested a night attack, while another general Wei Fang believed that the enemy's vanguard troops were all elite and were not easy to win. Chen Qingzhi finally said that you would not go, I would take my two hundred people. So he led his subordinates to 200 and raid forty miles a long distance, defeating the vanguard troops of the Northern Wei within one night. When the large troops of the Northern Wei heard that the vanguard troops were defeated, the entire army was shocked, slow to move, and morale plummeted.

However, the strength of the two sides was too different, so they fought near Woyang for nearly a year, fighting hundreds of times, and the outcome was not decided yet. However, the Northern Wei had already built camps in the rear of the Liang army, forming a clamping force. Cao and Wei were really unable to fight and were ready to retreat. Chen Qingzhi took the fence to block the troops at the gate of the camp and said, "I have come here together, and I have been working for one year, and I have spent a lot of food. The troops have no intention of fighting and are all trying to retreat. How could they make a fame?

He gathered to raid the riots. When I heard that the troops were killed, I could survive. I had to marry the enemy and then fight with him. I wanted to set up the army. Qingzhi had a secret order. Today, those who violated the army would follow the clear order. Cao and Wei were frightened and handed over the command to him. Chen Qingzhi immediately led the elite troops to raid the thirteen camps that the Northern Wei reinforcements thought were indestructible, and won a great victory. The Wei army's corpses silted into the tributaries of the Huai River. But compared with Chen Qing's later military glory, these were simply too weak to mention.

Lead the army to fight north

In the late Northern Wei Dynasty, the government was corrupt, ethnic conflicts and class conflicts intensified. In the second year of Datong, civil strife occurred in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and powerful people such as Xiao Baoyin, Ge Rong, Erzhu Rong and others were in vain. Moreover, Erzhu Rong massacred the Northern Wei royal family. The weak-powered king Yuan Hao could only entrust himself to other countries like in the Spring and Autumn Period and use the power of other countries to become the emperor of his country. So Yuan Hao surrendered to Liang on the grounds of chaos in this dynasty and asked the Liang Dynasty to send troops to help him become emperor. Xiao Yan was not easy to refuse, so he appointed Yuan Hao as the King of Wei, and Chen Qingzhi as a false festival. General Biao bravely led 7,000 troops to escort Yuan Hao to Luoyang to become emperor. Xiao Yan was probably just perfunctory about Yuan Hao. More likely, before going to the expedition, he secretly told Chen Qingzhi, whom he regarded as his confidant, that he would just withdraw with fun.

But this perfunctory resulted in Chen Qingzhi's reputation. Yuan Hao had no intention of really conquering Luoyang. Soon after he sent troops, he proclaimed himself emperor and refused to leave. He appointed Chen Qingzhi as General of Guard, Governor of Xuzhou, Duke of Wudu, and ordered him to continue to supervise the army to attack Xingyang in the west. He was appointed to fight on his own. So in the continuous spring rain, Chen Qingzhi led his only seven thousand troops directly under him and began a mythical Northern Expedition.

Go straight to Luoyang

In April of the first year of Zhongdatong (529), Chen Qingzhi led his troops to take advantage of the Northern Wei Dynasty to attack Xing Gao's uprising army, and took advantage of the opportunity to capture Xingcheng (now east of Shangqiu, Henan) and advance to Liang (now Shangqiu, Henan).

After Chen Qingzhi conquered Xingcheng, he marched into Suiyang. The defender of Suiyang was named Qiu Daqian, who was still defeated in Chen Qingzhi's first formation with ten times the strength of the battalion and was still defeated. Now this battle is almost completely a repeat of the battle: 7,000 vs. 70,000, the same one to ten, and the same army is more powerful, but this time Qiu Daqian learned his lesson and built nine camps to resist. But the result was no different: Chen Qingzhi captured three of them in the morning, and Qiu Daqian completely lost his fighting spirit, so he surrendered. Yuan Huiye led 20,000 guard troops to occupy Kaocheng to block Chen Qingzhi, and Kaocheng was surrounded by water, which was easy to attack. Chen Qingzhi "built a base on the water", captured Kaocheng, captured Yuan Huiye alive, and "acquired 7,800 rental cars". After the victory, Chen Qingzhi continued to march into Luoyang. Many places along the way surrendered.

In May, Emperor Yuan Ziyou of Wei sent troops to guard Xingyang (now Henan), Hulao (now Sishui Town, northwest of Xingyang) and other places to defend the capital Luoyang. The left-hand man Yang Yu, King Xi'a, Yuanqing of the Fu Army, and Yuan Xiangong of the Fu Army led 70,000 Yulin troops to defend Xingyang to seize the Liang army. The Wei army was very sharp, and the city in Xingyang was strong, Chen Qing's attack was unsuccessful. At that time, the general Shangdang of Wei, Yuan Tianmu, was about to arrive, and his cavalry general Erzhu Tuwuer led 5,000 Hu cavalry.

The cavalry general Lu An led 9,000 Xiazhou infantry and cavalry to reinforce Yang Yu. He also sent the right servant Erzhu Shilong, and the governor of Xijingzhou, Wang Yu, led 10,000 cavalrymen to enter the Huzhu. The Wei army had a total of 300,000 people to encircle the Liang army. Yuan Hao sent people to persuade Yang Yu to surrender, but was rejected. Soon, Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Tuwuer arrived one after another, and the Wei army was facing each other for a moment. Unexpectedly, the encirclement had just formed and before he had time to attack, Chen Qingzhi had already captured Xingyang, which had 70,000 defenders.

When Xingyang City was not conquered, the soldiers of the Liang army were all afraid. Chen Qingzhi dismantled his saddle and fed his horses, and said to the soldiers: "Since I have come here, I have slaughtered many cities and lands. You and others killed their fathers and brothers, and they have been infinity. Tianmu's people are also enemies. We only have 7,000 people and captured more than 300,000 people. Today's affairs are not up to date. I am the only one who can't fight for the plains. When it comes to the front, I must level the city and till the slaughter. You have no doubts about it and give it a slaughter." ("Book of Liang·Biography of Chen Qingzhi"). He beat the drums himself to attack the city, and with just one drum, the Liang army all climbed the city. The warriors Song Jingxiu and Yu Tianmin first climbed the city wall. The Liang army entered one after another, conquered Rongyang and captured Yang Yu. Chen Qingzhi seized the reserves of Xingyang, and the cattle, horse, and grain and silk were invincible.

Soon, Yuan Tianmu and others led 200,000 reinforcements to besiege the city. Note: 150,000 of them were elite ethnic minority cavalry. Chen Qingzhi, who occupied Xingyang, saw more than 200,000 Northern Wei reinforcements pressing down the city, and did not want to defend the city at all. So he led 3,000 elite cavalry to fight against the city. He defeated him, 3,000 against 200,000, and most of both sides were cavalry. Chen Qingzhi 3,000 people wiped out 200,000 reinforcements from the Northern Wei Dynasty. Lu An surrendered in front of the formation, and Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Tuwuer were eliminated alone. Chen Qingzhi probably felt unsatisfied, so he led these 3,000 people to enter Hulao Pass. There were 10,000 elite soldiers and the Hulao guards who were in the vicinity of the pass.

Zhu Shilong dared not fight, so he abandoned the city and fled. The Liang army captured the general of Wei Dong Zhonglang Xin Zhuan, and Emperor Xiaozhuang of Wei Yuan Ziyou, and Emperor Xiaozhuang of Wei, were forced to retreat to his eldest son (now the west of the eldest son in Shanxi). At this time, Chen Qingzhi was only one step away from Luoyang, but he had no chance to attack Luoyang because Luoyang's garrison Yuan X, Yuan Yanming surrendered directly. Yuan Hao then entered Luoyang, and King Linhuai of Wei, Yuan Yanming, and King Anfeng, led hundreds of officials to welcome Yuan Hao into the palace. Yuan Hao changed the Yuan Dynasty to amnesty, and then began to learn from other monarchs, and then he was granted the title of Chen Qingzhi as the attendant, the general of chariots, the left Guanglu Dafu, and tens of thousands of households were added.

Soon, Shangdang Wang Yuantianmu, Wang Laosheng and Li Shuren led another 40,000 troops to conquer Daliang, and sent Wang Laosheng. Fei Mu entered Hulao, Diao Xuan and Diao Shuang entered Liang, Song. After Chen Qingzhi heard about it, he led his army to attack, and all the Wei troops surrendered. Yuan Tianmu led more than ten cavalry to cross the Yellow River north and fled. Fei Mu attacked Hulao and was defeated. Suddenly, he heard that Yuan Tianmu fled north and thought he had no successor, so he surrendered to Chen Qingzhi. Chen Qingzhi attacked Daliang again, and Liang State defeated him. After Emperor Wu of Liang heard the news, he

Next, I personally wrote an edict to commend me. Chen Qingzhi and his subordinates all wore white robes and were invincible along the way, so the nursery rhyme in Luoyang City said: "Don't be a famous general, and thousands of soldiers and horses avoid white robes" ("Book of Liang·Biography of Chen Qingzhi"). In other words, no matter how many people you are, it is best to bypass this army when you encounter this army. Chen Qingzhi fought 47 times from Ji County to Luoyang with a population of 7,000, and attacked 32 cities. They all defeated them.

Returning to the south

After receiving a series of defeat reports from his subordinates, Erzhu Rong poured almost all the troops under the control of Northern Wei, claiming to be one million, and went south from the north to attack Luoyang. The small towns near Luoyang rebelled one after another under Erzhu Rong's heavy pressure. In Yuan Hao's view, Chen Qingzhi did not think that Yuan Hao, who had promised the conditions of the Southern Liang seriously, could not use him seriously. Chen Qingzhi himself knew very well and took the initiative to ask to go north of the Yellow River to defend Beizhonglang City, the gateway of Luoyang. Erzhu Rong also insisted on distinguishing himself from Chen Qingzhi, so he attacked Chen Qingzhi with all his might. After three days, Chen Qingzhi's troops of 7,000 people beat millions of Erzhu Rong's troops to death and wounded. Erzhu Rong was desperate and ordered his troops to retreat.

At this time, a star scientist Liu Zhu, who was accompanying the army, advised Erzhu Rong not to retreat. Erzhu Rong also figured it out. He had no choice but to use Chen Qingzhi, so he went to capture Yuan Hao's nest. Eryang was soon captured and Yuan Hao was killed. Chen Qingzhi completely lost his base in the north and had to retreat east to prepare to return to Jiankang. Erzhu Rong personally led the army to chase him, but the pursuit was too funny: chasing far means not chasing him, and he dared not chasing him when he was close. The two armies dragged all the way to the border of Henan. Chen Qingzhi was preparing to command the army to cross the river, but the sudden mountain torrent ruthlessly washed away his troops that had won every battle.

This was the only chance that Chen Qingyi would die on the battlefield in his life, but Chen Qingzhi pretended to be a monk and secretly sneaked back to Jiankang. After Chen Qingzhi returned to the south, he respected the northerners. Zhu Yi felt strange and asked him. Chen Qingzhi said: "I initially thought that the north of the Yangtze River was the hometown of Rongdi. Compared to Luoyang, I knew that all the people in the Central Plains were not in the east of Jiangdong, so why not hesitate to them" ("Zizhi Tongjian·Volume 153")

Guard the southeast

In December, Emperor Wu of Liang took Chen Qingzhi as the throne, and was in charge of the military affairs of Huai. General Fenwu and the governor of Northern Yanzhou. At that time, a demon monk named Monk Qiang claimed to be the emperor, and the local tyrant Cai Bolong also raised an army to correspond with it. He reached 30,000 people and captured Northern Xuzhou. Yang Qiwen, the prefect of Jiyin, abandoned the city and fled, and Shan Xibao, the prefect of Zhongli, was killed. Emperor Wu of Liang ordered Chen Qing to go to the expedition before, and personally went to Baixiacheng to bid farewell to him. Emperor Wu of Liang said to Chen Qingzhi: "The army in Jiang and Huai is strong, and the edge is difficult to control. You can make a decision, and it is not suitable to fight decisively" ("Book of Liang·Biography of Chen Qingzhi"). Chen Qingzhi was ordered to go on a journey. Before twelve days, he killed Cai Bolong and Sengqiang, and was sentenced to Jiankang. In the second year of Zhongdatong (530 AD), Emperor Wu of Liang appointed Chen Qingzhi as the commander of the military affairs of the four states of Nan, Beishi, Xiyu, and Henan, and Nan,

The governors of the two states in Beishi, the rest remained the same. After Chen Qingzhi took office, he surrounded Xuanhu (now Runan, Henan), defeated the governor of Yingzhou Lou Qi, the governor of Yingzhou in Wei, and defeated the Yangzhou governor of Yunbao in Wushui, and defeated the Sun Teng in Xingtai, the governor of Xuntai, the governor of Hou Jin, the governor of Yuzhou, and the governor of Liangzhou, Sima Gong in Chucheng. Chen Qingzhi showed his outstanding talents as a politician at this time. Chen Qingzhi immediately reduced the military service in Yiyang Town, stopped water transportation and supplies, and allowed the Jiangxi prefectures to rest and recuperate. He also opened 6,000 hectares of land, and two years later, the food was enriched. Emperor Wu of Liang often praised Chen Qingzhi for this. At the same time, Chen Qingzhi requested to streamline Nanshizhou to Anlu County and establish Shangming County. In February of the first year of Datong (535 AD), Chen Qingzhi attacked the Eastern Wei and fought with Yao Xiong, the governor of Yuzhou in Eastern Wei, and returned due to unfavorable reasons.

In October of the second year of Datong (536 AD), Hou Jing, the governor of Dingzhou of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, led 70,000 people to attack Chuzhou and captured Huanhe, Hou Jing took advantage of the victory to march on Huai, and wrote a letter to persuade Chen Qingzhi to surrender. Chen Qingzhi ushered in the last battle of his life. Chen Qingzhi was less than 10,000 under his command. Emperor Liang was so nervous that he rushed to retreat. Xiahou Kui led his troops to help. Shortly after his departure, the army arrived at Lijiu, and news came from the front line: Hou Jing's team had been annihilated, Hou Jing abandoned the baggage and fled alone. Chen Qingzhi had defeated Hou Jing. It was snowing in the cold and Hou Jing abandoned the baggage and fled, and Chen Qingzhi collected his baggage and returned.

In the same year, there was a famine in Yuzhou. Chen Qingzhi opened his warehouse and released grain to help the victims, allowing most of the victims to survive the famine. More than 800 people from Yuzhou headed by Li Sheng asked to set up a monument to praise Chen Qingzhi, and Emperor Wu of Liang issued an edict to approve it. In October of the fifth year of Datong (539 AD), Chen Qingzhi died at the age of 56. Emperor Wu of Liang posthumously awarded him the title of the General of the Sanqi Cavalry and the General of the Left Guard. He promoted a family and posthumously named him "Wu". He also ordered 500 people from Yixing County to mourn him.

[Edit this section] Great military achievements

In 525 AD, Xiao Yan appointed Chen Qingzhi as General Xuanmeng, and Commander Wende led two thousand troops to escort Yuzhang Wang Xiao Zong to take over Xuzhou. The Northern Wei sent two royal family members Yuan Yanming, Yuan X led 20,000 troops to set up camps in Zhikou area to prepare for advance. After Chen Qingzhi received the news, he approached the enemy's camp and rushed directly. One to ten, this is probably the closest battle in all his battles to the enemy. The result of the battle was that the 20,000 troops of two hundred horses were defeated by Chen Qingzhi's two thousand horses in a round of drums.

In the first year of Datong of Liang (527), he and Xunyang prefect Wei Fang attacked Wei's Woyang (now Mengcheng, Anhui). Wei sent the general of the Southern Conquest Yuan Zhao to rescue him. Chen Qingzhi took advantage of the Wei army's arrival and commanded only 100 people to defeat his vanguard.

Later, he advanced with the generals and fought against the Wei army on the back of Woyang City. From spring to winter, the battles were frequent and the soldiers were exhausted. Some generals suggested retreating, and he insisted on a decisive battle. The Wei army built 13 bases to control the Liang army. He led the troops out at night and broke the fourth bases. Wang Wei, the lord of Woyang City, asked for surrender. The Liang army took advantage of the victory and attacked many prisoners and killed them, and the remaining nine bases were defeated.

In April of the first year of Zhongdatong (529), Chen Qingzhi led his troops to take advantage of the Northern Wei Dynasty to attack Xing Gao's uprising army, and took advantage of the opportunity to capture Xingcheng (now east of Shangqiu, Henan) and advance to Liang Kingdom (now Shangqiu, Henan). Wei general Qiu Daqian led his troops to build nine cities to resist the Liang army. Chen Qingzhi led his army to attack and captured three cities within one day, forcing Qiu Daqian to surrender. Yuan Hao then proclaimed himself emperor in Suiyang (now south of Shangqiu, Henan). He was granted the envoy to hold the ranks of Chen Qingzhi, the general of Zhenbei, the guardian army, and the commander of the front army. At that time, the king of Wei Jiyin, Yuan Huiye led the Yulin army to support him and entered the town of Kaocheng (now northeast of Minquan, Henan). Kaocheng was surrounded by water and had strict defense. Chen Qingzhi ordered his subordinates to build a fortress on the water surface, captured the city, wiped out 20,000 yuan, and captured Yuan Huiye.

In April of the second year of Datong, Liang (528), Yuan Hao, the king of Beihai of Wei, surrendered. Liang Wu wanted to use it to expand the land north, and even if it was not good, he could establish a defense buffer zone between Wei and Liang. So he appointed Yuan Hao as King of Wei and escorted Chen Qingzhi to return to the north. The specific destination history books did not specify whether to send it to Luoyang all the time. In October of the same year, Chen Qingzhi attacked Wei Yicheng and broke Xingcheng.

In April of the third year of Datong, Liang (529), Wei Yuantianmu led a large army to attack Xing Gao, Chen Qingzhi took advantage of the opportunity to go north, besieged Liang (maining Suiyang), and defeated Dake 70,000 Weiqiu. Yuan Hao called the Emperor of Wei here, changed the reign of Xiaoji, and appointed Chen Qingzhi as the chief commander of the front army. On April 20, Chen Qingzhi marched into Kaocheng and defeated Wei Yuanhui and 20,000 Yulin troops. On May 1, the defenders of Wei Daliang surrendered. Chen Qingzhi then led his troops westward and pointed at the capital of Wei Luoyang. On May 23, before Wei reinforcements arrived, he defeated 70,000 Wei Yangyu and captured Xingyang. Russia led 3,000 troops to fight against the city, defeating the enemy reinforcements Yuan Tianmu, and Erdongzhao cavalry more than 10,000 times. Later, Wei Erzhu Shilong abandoned Hulao, and Luoyang was completely naked before the Liang army. On May 25, Yuan Hao entered Luoyang and changed the reign to Jianwu.

However, after the Liang army captured Luoyang, Wei Yuantianmu and others counterattacked again and conquered Daliang and Suiyang one after another. Fei Mu led 20,000 troops to attack Hulao. Luoyang was in a hurry. Chen Qingzhi then returned to the army to attack the Wei army. Yuan Tianmu feared him and led 40,000 people to cross the Yellow River north, while Fei Mu led 20,000 people to Hulao. Later, Chen Qingzhi recovered Daliang, Suiyang, and Luoyang were all relieved.

In October of the second year of Datong (536 AD), Hou Jing, the governor of Dingzhou of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, led 70,000 people to attack Chuzhou and captured Huaihe. Hou Jing took advantage of the victory to march on Huai, and wrote a letter to persuade Chen Qingzhi to surrender. Emperor Wu of Liang sent Hou retreat, and Hou Kui and others to go to reinforce. The army arrived at Lijiang, and Chen Qingzhi had defeated Hou Jing.

Successful factors Chen Qingzhi sent Yuan Hao to the north, from Zhu County to Luoyang, traveled more than 3,000 miles, and fought 47 battles to defeat 32 cities in Wei, and was invincible, which was a brave man. But there are three factors that have to be expressed:

First, at that time, internal and external relations between Wei and foreign countries were in trouble, and refugees rose everywhere at the bottom, and palaces changed frequently at the top. The troops within a radius of hundreds of miles of Luoyang were empty and morale was low. Therefore, Chen Qing was invincible and had certain chances.

Second, Chen Qingzhi never fought with the most elite troops of Wei during this Northern Expedition. At that time, Erzhu Rong, the first general of the Wei Dynasty, defeated Ge Rong, and was hoarding troops to the front line of Yecheng. Yuan Tianmu actually did not do his best to fight Chen Qingzhi head-on. His main energy was spent on attacking Xing Gao in Jinan. (There is a saying in "The Book of Wei" that "the court is lonely and weak, and does not worry about it" is enough to prove it.)

Third, in the Book of Liang, Chen Qingzhi said that "our generation is 7,000, and the captives are more than 300,000." (The History of Southern China says "more than 400,000 thieves"). Ordinary people misunderstood that it is to break 300,000 for 7,000. In fact, "captives" not only refer to the enemy, but also refer to the people who are in charge of logistics and other work. In ancient times, wars were often loved to be exaggerated, such as Cao Cao's name was one million, but actually only hundreds of thousands. Further, according to Zhu Dawei, the current generation, the total strength of the Northern Wei Dynasty was only about 200,000. Therefore, in the Book of Liang, "the general of Wei Qiu Daqian had 70,000 people", "the general of the Fu Army Yuan Xiangong led the imperial guards of the Yulin Zongzi and the sons of the illegitimate sons" and "the captives were more than 300,000 people", which were obviously a bit of a great leap forward.

In summary, Chen Qing's Northern Expedition was based on the facts of defeating the larger ones with less, but also had a certain amount of water. The recent Lu Simian's evaluation of Qing's Northern Expedition was relatively pertinent: "(Chen Qingzhi) his edge was very sharp, but the Wei's military strength was not greatly damaged."

[Edit this section] Verify history

Chen Qingzhi in "Book of Liang" never lost his life. Even if he was captured by Er Dongrong, he would first advocate that he injured many enemies in the 11 battles, and then attribute the destruction of the entire army to natural disasters (Flooding of the Songgao Yingshui River) rather than human power. So, is this the case?

Regarding the Battle of Luoyang, "Book of Liang. Biography of Chen Qingzhi" reads:

"General Wei Tianzhu Erzhu Rong, right servant Erzhu Shilong, Grand Commander Yuan Tianmu, General Cavalry Erzhu Tuwuer, Rong Chief Shi Gaohuan, Xianbei, Rui Rui, took the official title of Million, took the Wei lord Yuan You to attack Hao. On the 65th day of the time, Hao rebelled for all the cities he obtained. Qingzhi crossed the river to defend Beizhonglang City, and fought ten out of three days, and many people were injured and killed. Rong was about to retreat, and Liu Ling helped him, who was good at Tianwen, so he said to Rong: "No more than ten days of leaving. Rong said to him: "

, Henan Dading’. Rong tied wood to rafts, Ji fought with Hao on a rock, and fought with Hao at a river bridge. Hao was defeated and walked to Linying. He was captured when he met a bandit. Luoyang was captured. Qingzhi had thousands of horses and strolled in a formation. Rong came to chase him in person. The mountains and rivers overflowed, and the soldiers died and scattered. Qingzhi then fell into a monk and went to Yuzhou. During the trip, Cheng Daoyong and others from Yuzhou secretly sent out of Ruyin. When he arrived at the capital, he still used his merits to eliminate the Right Guard General and was granted the title of Marquis of Yongxing County, with 1,500 households in the town."

It seems that "I am the destruction of heaven, it is not the crime of war": Chen Qingzhi crossed to the north of the Yellow River and guarded the Beizhonglang City. On the 11th day of the three days, he killed Erzhu Rong and was about to retreat, but he persuaded the man who was good at observing the heavenly stars and tied up a wooden slaughter to cross the river and captured Luoyang. Chen Qingzhi was not panicked, and formed a formation and returned eastward. He encountered the flood of Yingshui in Songgao County. The entire army was dispersed. So he lost his hair and shaved his hair and pretended to be a monk, and fled back to Liangdu alone.

But there is another version of the Luoyang defense war, "Book of Wei. Biography of Erzhu Rong" writes:

"(Erzhu) Rong and (Yuan) Hao stood on the river. Hao ordered the governor of Anfeng, Yanming, the king of Anfeng, to seize the river. Rong had no boats and could not cross immediately. He proposed to return to the north and then promoted the post. Huangmen Lang Yang Kan, Gao Daomu and others also said that if the army returned, they would lose the hope of the world and stubbornly thought it was impossible. Yang Yun from Mazhu had several small boats and wanted to be the guide of the village. Rong ordered the governor Erzhu Zhao and others to lead the elite cavalry to support the night and land on the shore to fight. Haozi led the general Guan Su to lead 5,000 horse stairs to resist the battle. Zhao defeated him and captured Guan Su at the last battle. Yan Ming heard that Guan Su was captured, so he fled and scattered himself. Hao led his troops to flee south."

There is a sentence in "Book of Wei. Biography of Xiao Yan of the Island": "In the summer of the second year of Yong'an, I entered Luoyang, and the carriage returned to challenge him and broke away. But Qingyi left and was free, and all the remaining troops saw prisoners."

According to two records in the "Book of Wei", Chen Qingzhi almost became a transparent man in the defense battle: Erzhu Rong formed heavy troops and fought with Yuan Hao on both sides of the Yellow River. He wanted to cross the river without boats and oars, so he planned to return north and persuade his subordinates. He happened to find several small boats and guides, and Erzhu Rong ordered Erzhu Zhao to lead the cavalry to cross at night, and defeat Hao and trap Luo, and Chen Qingzhi escaped alone.

There is also a third version of the Luoyang Defense War, which is written by Zizhi Tongjian. Liang Jijiu:

"Er Zhu Rong and Hao stood on the river. Qingzhi defended the northern middle city, and Hao occupied the south bank. Qingzhi fought on the 11th day of the 3rd day, and many people were killed. A righteous man from Xiazhou guarded the river Zhongzhu for Hao. Yin and Rong planned to break the bridge and set up his success. Rong led his troops to him. When the bridge was broken, Rong could not catch up. Hao slaughtered them all. Rong was disappointed. He also said that Yanming, the king of Anfeng, defended the river, but the northern army had no ships to cross, so he proposed to return to the north. He also planned to raise the future. Huangmen Lang Yang Kan said:...If there was no success, he would return home again. The people were disappointed and they went to the end. The victory and defeat were unknown. It is not better to recruit people, and they would mostly use rafts, and they were lined up by boats and oars. The river was arranged in hundreds of miles, and they were all crossing. The head and tail were far away, so that Hao was not sure what to defend. Once he could cross, he would make great contributions. Rong said: "Yang

The Huangmen had already made this strategy and should discuss it with each other." Liu Ling assisted Yu Rong and said, "In less than ten days, Henan will be pacified." General Fubo was pacified and Yang Jiong and his clan lived in Mazhu. He said that he had several small boats and asked him to be the guide of the village. Wuchen, Rong ordered General Erzhu Zhao, the general of the chariot and cavalry, and the Grand Commander Hebasheng to tie up materials to rafts. From the west of Mazhu, he attacked Haozi's general Guan Su and captured him. When the people of Yanming, the king of Anfeng, heard of it, they were defeated. Hao lost his throne, and hundreds of cavalry under his command went south. Chen Qingzhi collected thousands of infantry and cavalry, formed a formation and returned east. Hao obtained all the cities and surrendered to Wei. Erzhu Rong pursued Chen Qingzhi and met with the Songgao River. Qing's soldiers died and dispersed. Then he cut off his beard and hair into monks. He went out of Ruyin and returned to Jiankang. He was still accused of the General of the Right Guard and was granted the title of Marquis of Yongxing County."

The passage of "Tongjian" is mainly based on "Book of Liang" and has also inserted some materials from "Book of Wei", which is very unnatural. The part about Chen Qingzhi is taken from "Book of Liang". So, can we believe the account of Chen Qingzhi in the Battle of Luoyang in the "Book of Liang"? The answer is: No.

Sima Guang was a traditional Confucian scholar who paid attention to "orthodox". In the "Tongjian" the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were no Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and only Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen. It is obvious that Sima Guang regarded the Southern Dynasties as "orthodox". His assistant Liu Shu also had objections to this and wrote a letter saying: "The orthodox theory was promoted from the Han Confucians, and recommended the mutual generation of the five elements, referring to the inheritance of the seals and figurines, thinking that it was orthodox... However, during the Wei, Jin, North and South Five Dynasties, they were in power and then divided the world. Their name and number were different from Zhou to Wu and Chu. How could they be forced to defeat a country and called orthodox? Are the rest of them all used to be usurpated?" But it seems that this protest was useless in the end.

Since Sima Guang regarded the Southern Dynasties as orthodox, he certainly wanted to write a lot of books against Chen Qingzhi, the general of Xiaoliang who was "invincible". We can see that in "Tongjian. Liang Ji", Chen Qingzhi's appearance rate was quite high, and he basically copied the "Book of Liang".

So, the key now is to judge which is closer to the facts in the "Book of Liang" and "Book of Wei" about the record of the Luoyang defense war.

My personal tendency is to believe in "The Book of Wei", although it is not very reliable history. However, the two non-reliable history should be abandoned. The record of the Luoyang defense war in "The Book of Liang" is full of flaws.

First of all, "General Erzhu Rong, Wei Tianzhu, Erzhu Shilong, the right servant, Yuan Tianmu, the general of the cavalry, Erzhu Tuwuer, Rong, Chief Shi Gaohuan, Xianbei, Rui Rui." This sentence has a problem. Rui Rui, that is, Rouran, is a major concern of the Northern Wei Dynasty and has never helped the Northern Wei fight the Southern Dynasty. Of course, there may be Rouran people in the Northern Wei army, because the Northern Wei once moved Rouran, Chile and the mainland Han people who were captured by the inner army to Liuzhen and Pingcheng, and used them as servants and camps. However, this is different from the fact that Rui Rui sent troops to jointly attack Luoyang in the Book of Liang. Sima Guang also knew this, so he secretly removed it when compiling "Tongjian".

Secondly, "Qingzhi crossed the river and guarded the Beizhonglang City. He fought ten of his three days, and many people were injured and killed." It is quite contradictory to the following sentence "The mountains and rivers are flooded, and the soldiers are scattered". Chen Qingzhi crossed the Yellow River north and then retreated east. If he wanted to encounter the flooding of Yingshui in Songgao County on the south bank of the Yellow River, it was possible that he would cross the Yellow River before retreating east. But when he returned, how could he avoid fighting with the 300,000 troops that Erzhu Rong had already deployed on both sides of the Yellow River? In "Book of Wei" and "Book of Liang", there is no record of Chen Qingzhi's battle when he returned to cross the Yellow River. So, Chen Qingzhi and his troops were still calm in the chaotic crossing?

Finally, "Qingzhi had thousands of horse steps, and formed a formation to rebel in the east, and Rong came to chase him personally." In Sichuan dialect, this sentence is "funny and quarrel". Erzhu Rong's primary purpose in this battle was to seize Luoyang and destroy Yuan Hao. Now that Luoyang was captured, Yuan Hao ran away. Even if he wanted to chase him, he would chase Yuan Hao instead of Chen Qingzhi. In contrast, the description of "Shu Wei" is generally credible. Only in the specific operational technology of crossing the river, the statement of "Shu Liang" is not as reliable as "Shu Liang". After all, it is a bit outrageous to be able to cross the river by just a few small boats and a guide, and defeat the opponent's 5,000 horse steps, which is a bit outrageous. Sima Guang combined the records of "Shu Liang" and "Shu Wei" in this link, and did not do anything bad.

The so-called "high achievements shocked the master", not to mention that Yuan Hao was not as "master" of Chen Qingzhi, but was just a puppet regime supported by Xiao Liang. Chen Qingzhi seemed to be the imperial envoy who snored like thunder beside Yuan Hao's bed, which made him more unhappy than relying on him.

In "Book of Liang. Biography of Chen Qingzhi", the evaluation of Yuan Hao is very low, and it is revealed that he "has been successful and is deserted from the wine and sex, so he feasts day and night, and does not look at things anymore." "Book of Wei. Biography of Yuan Hao" is similar, saying that he "drinked wine day and night, without caring about the military and country." Since Yuan Hao was a coward, he would naturally be suspicious of Chen Qingzhi. General Yuan Yanming once said to Yuan Hao: "Chen Qing's troops do not exceed thousands, and it is difficult to control himself; now he will increase his number, would rather use it again? Once the power is gone, he will listen to people. Wei's clan society will be destroyed here." Yuan Hao was even more suspicious and afraid that Chen Qingzhi would ask Liang Wu for troops. The above statement said: "Hebei and Henan have been settled for a while, but Erzhu Rong dares to be domineering, and my ministers and Qingzhi can capture and fight. Now the new prefectures and counties are in need of comfort, so it is not advisable to add more troops to shake the people." So Liang Wu did not send reinforcements to Yuan Hao again.

When Yuan Hao was about to be defeated, Chen Qingzhi probably had no actual military power, so in the "Book of Wei", there was not much scene in the Luoyang defense battle. Here is a relatively convincing material. "The Record of Jialan of Luoyang" records that when Yuan Hao was defeated and fled and was captured, "the five thousand children of Jianghuai were all removed from their armor and cried, and they shook hands together." Chen Qingzhi escorted Yuan Hao north to bring 7,000 people. At that time, Yuan Hao was just a bare commander.

Even if Yuan Hao in Luoyang expands his troops, it is difficult to be a "children of Jianghuai". Therefore, the 5,000 "children of Jianghuai" led by Yuan Hao when he was captured are very likely to be Chen Qingzhi's original troops. The reason why they disarmed their armor and cried was not for the reign of Yuan Hao, but for the sake of the general Chen Qingzhi. The abrupt sentence in "Book of Wei. Biography of Xiao Yan of the Island" "Only one of the people left and left, and since the rest of the troops saw the prisoner," also had a complete answer.

In fact, even if Chen Qingzhi had military power, he might not be absolutely undefeated. The battle between Luoyang's defense was very different from us, and internal and external relations were difficult, so Qingzhi had to be defeated and had some rhetoric, but it was difficult for him to make excuses in the battle with Wei Yaoxiong afterwards.

There is no problem in "Book of Liang. Biography of Chen Qingzhi", the white-robed general's energy saving protection:

"In the second year of Zhongdatong, the military affairs of the North and South Offices, Xiyu and Henan were eliminated, and the governors of the North and South Offices of the North and South Offices were the same. When they arrived in Qing, they surrounded Xuanhu. The governors of Yingzhou, Wei was defeated, Lou Qi, the governor of Yingzhou, Yangzhou was Yunbao in the Qinshui River, and also defeated Xingtai Sun Teng, the governor of the Great Commander Hou Jin, the governor of Yuzhou, Yao Xiong, and the governor of Liangzhou, Sima Gong, the governor of Chucheng."

Others have nothing, but Yao Xiong is very angry, Yao Xiong has something to say. In "Book of Northern Qi. Biography of Yao Xiong" (When Wei collected the book of Wei, Yao Xiong was still alive, so he did not enter the book of the book of Northern Qi. Li Baiyao started to include it in "Book of Northern Qi", which reads:

"Chen Qingzhi, the governor of Liang Sizhou, led the troops to force the city of Zhou. Xiong went out to fight, and was invincible. He was destroyed by the two people and his strong aura became stronger. Qingzhi was defeated and abandoned the baggage and left. Later, Qingzhi surrounded Nanjingzhou again, and Xiong... Then he led the troops to attack him. Qingzhi abandoned Jingzhou. Before he arrived, Xiong captured the city and captured the general Gou Yuanguang of Liang Town, with two thousand soldiers."

This time, there was actually no major conflict between the two historical books, but you wrote your proud history, and I wrote my proud history. Chu City, now Huangmei County, Hubei Province, belonged to the territory of Xiaoliang during the era of Chen Qingzhi. It is normal for everyone in the Northern Wei Dynasty, including Yao Xiong, to attack, and Chen Qingzhi defeated him.

But Chen Qingzhi also lost the same way when he went to attack Yao Xiong, and it reached twice. Why did Chen Qingzhi attack Yao Xiong? It was very simple. At that time, Chen Qingzhi was the governor of the Liang Dynasty's military commander, the Xiyu and the Henan prefectures, and the two states of the North and South prefectures. However, the Liang Dynasty actually did not have the North and South prefectures, the Xiyu and the Henan prefectures. Qingzhi's title was just a void position with encouragement. Yao Xiong was different. He was the governor of the Wei Dynasty and had actual territory. Of course, Chen Qingzhi had to steal land, but was tragically retreated.

However, after crawling through historical records of various positions and squeezing out the water in myths, Chen Qingzhi is still an outstanding warrior of a generation. With his white robe, we will no longer regard Alexander's tens of thousands of people breaking the Persian army as an irreplicable legend.

[Edit this section] Review of later generations

Comment: Chen Qing once fought in his life, and often set up strange strategies, mostly winning with less, and good at siegeing cities. Whether it was the Northern Expedition sweeping Heluo or running troops across the border, they fully demonstrated his outstanding military talent. The Northern Expedition was awe-inspiring like a tiger. "Chen Qing had a general and defeated the attack, and was a little bit like a man, Mu, Wei, and Huo. Qing's warning enlightenment, served Emperor Gaozu early, and had predicted his old kindness, and was vigilant and solemn, and the cicada crowned his penis were also a lifetime of glory" (《

Liang Book·Biography of Chen Qingzhi). "Chen Qingzhi first traveled with the sparrows, but he finally had the ambition of a swan. When he saw the appointment, he drove to Yi and Luo. He had no strong formations in front of him and attacked the city. Although the south wind did not compete, it was overturned later, and his victory was enough to be called it" ("Southern History·Biography of Chen Qingzhi"). What is even more rare is that Chen Qingzhi came from a poor family. Only he and Yu Yao (who were appointed as General Yunqi and Governor of Anzhou).
Chapter completed!