Introduction to the occurrence and results of the Song-Wei War in the late years of Liu Song and Yuan Jia

During the Yuanjia period of the Liu Song Dynasty (424 AD to 452 AD), Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty Liu Yilong continued to implement a series of reform measures after his father Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, which greatly improved the politics of the Liu Song Dynasty compared with the previous generation. It was a time when society was stable, the economy was recovering, and national strength was gradually increasing. It was a famous moderately prosperous period in the history of the Southern Dynasties. At the same time, Tuoba Wei, which rose in the north, became increasingly powerful. Tuoba Tao, the reigning Emperor Taiwu at the time, successively defeated several separatist regimes and unified the north. Emperor Taiwu was determined to unify the country and sent troops south to invade several times. Liu Song, whose national power was getting stronger, was not willing to sit in the south of the Yangtze River and wanted to regain the land in Henan that was taken away by Wei. The contradiction between Song and Wei increasingly intensified. By the end of Yuanjia, a large-scale war finally broke out between the two sides. Liu Song's Northern Expedition

This war started with Liu Song's Northern Expedition, so at the beginning of the war, Liu Song was in a strategic offensive position. In June of the 27th year of Yuanjia (AD 450), Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty decided to take advantage of the abundant water in the canals in summer to launch a large-scale northern expedition. General Liu Kangzu of the Left Army asked him to wait another year because it was late in the season, but Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty did not allow it. Shen Qingzhi, the prince's infantry captain, believed that "horses and infantry have been invincible for a long time" and he was eager for the Northern Expedition "for fear of humiliating the king's division and making it difficult to succeed." Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty retorted: "The captives rely only on horses. The Xia River is sweating and the river is flowing. If you point the boat to the north, you will have to go. The sliding platform is small and the garrison can be easily recovered. To defeat these two garrison, the Guan Valley will support the people and the tiger prison will , Luoyang, naturally not solid. In the winter, when the cities were guarded and the horses were forced to cross the river, they became like birds. "① At that time, Prince Liu Shao and the guard general Xiao Sihua all warned that the Northern Expedition should not be rushed. OK, but Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty accepted nothing and decided to march immediately.

In July of that year, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty assigned generals to the Northern Expedition in three routes. The deployment was as follows: 60,000 Eastern Route Army, with Xiao Bin, the governor of Qingzhou and Hebei Provinces, as the commander; Ningshuo General Wang Xuanmo led Chongqingzhi, It was consulted that Shen Tan and other naval forces should serve as the vanguard, enter the Yellow River via Huaihe River and Si River, and attack Xuzhou, Huatai and other places. Liu Jun, the governor of Xu and Yanzhou, led the army to advance by land and water to cooperate. The middle route army was led by Prince Zuowei Zang Zhi, who led the Donggong forbidden troops, and the valiant cavalry general Wang Fanghui, Jianwu general Liu Kangzu and other 100,000 infantry and cavalry troops, heading straight to Xuchang (today's east of Xuchang, Henan) and Luoyang; Yuzhou governor and Nanping king Liu Shuo led the army. Follow-up cooperation. The West Route Army, with Liu Dan, the governor of Yongzhou, as its commander, attacked Hongnong (now north of Lingbao, Henan Province) and pointed directly at Chang'an; Liu Xiuzhi, the governor of Liang, Southern Qin, and Northern Qin, led his troops to attack ■ (the name of the mountain, in today's Longbao, Shaanxi) County southwest), Long (name of the mountain, in the area from Longxian, Shaanxi to Pingliang, Gansu), coordinate actions. In addition, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty sent special envoys Taiwei and Liu Yigong, King of Jiangxia, to station in Pengcheng to coordinate all the armies.

In mid-July, the Eastern Route Army of the Song Dynasty first attacked the Wei Army. Xiao Bin's Jianwu Sima Shen Yuanji led an army to attack `x. Wang Maide, the governor of Wei Jizhou (governing `x), abandoned the city and fled. Occupy `x. Xiao Bin stationed in `x, personally commanded the front line, and ordered Wang Xuanmo's troops to attack the sliding platform along the west of the Yellow River. Wang Xuanmo sent Zhongli Prefect Yuan Hu to lead a hundred warships as the vanguard and occupied Shijijin, a Yellow River ferry 120 miles southwest of the sliding platform, and the entire army surrounded the sliding platform. Wang Xuanmo's troops have many soldiers and sophisticated equipment, and Wei Huatai is in danger. However, Wang Xuanmo made a mistake in his command. The wall guard suggested a fire attack because there were many thatched houses in Huatai City, but Wang Xuanmo refused to accept it. Yuan Huzhi also suggested that reinforcements from the Northern Wei Dynasty were approaching and the military situation was urgent. He suggested a strong attack, but Wang Xuanmo rejected it. Due to Wang Xuanmo's command errors, the Song army repeatedly lost its fighter planes, resulting in a siege of the sliding platform for nearly three months without being able to defeat it.

At the same time, Liu Shuo led his army to attack the Wei army in the middle. Liu Shuo ordered his troops to join Hu Shengzhi, and when they reached Tanzhi, they divided into two groups to attack Changshe (today's Changgetong, Henan Province). Lu Shuang, the leader of the Wei Changshe garrison, was defeated, and the Song army captured Changshe. Later, Wang Yanger, the leader of the Song Army, defeated Tuoba Pulan, the governor of Yuzhou in Wei, and entered Dasuo City (in the area of ​​​​Xingyang, Henan today). Pulan withdrew to Hulao. Liu Shuo then sent Anman Sima Liu Kangzu to succeed him in Tan, and joined forces to attack Hulao.

When the Eastern and Central Route armies of Song Dynasty launched an attack on the Wei army, the West Route army actively cooperated. In August, Liu Dan sent his troops to join the army. Liu Yuanjing led Zhenwei General Yin Xianzu, Fenwu General Lu Fangping, Jianwu General Xue Andu, Lueyang Prefect Chong Faqi, Guangwei General Tian Yiren and other troops to advance northward from Xiangyang. In the leap tenth month, the Song army captured Hongnong. Subsequently, Xue Andu and other troops attacked Shaanxi City (today's west of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province), defeated Weiluo Prefecture Governor Zhang Shi, who came to help, and even raised 20,000 infantry and cavalry to capture Shaanxi City. At the same time, Pang Faqi of the Song Army captured Tongguan. The victory of the Song Army caused "all the righteous disciples in Guanzhong to swarm everywhere, including the Qiang and Hu Xian people in the four mountains."① The Northern Wei Dynasty was shaken in Guanzhong, and the situation of the Song Army's Northern Expedition was extremely favorable.

After Liu Song began the Northern Expedition, all armies made smooth progress. However, after the Wei army switched from strategic defense to strategic counterattack, the war situation began to change to the disadvantage of the Song army. Northern Wei's Counterattack

At the beginning of Liu Song's Northern Expedition, all officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty asked Emperor Taiwu to send troops to rescue immediately. However, Emperor Taiwu advocated striking later. He believed that it was hot and rushing to send troops would be ineffective. He could defeat the Song army in one fell swoop by counterattacking when the horses were fat in the cool autumn of October. In September, Emperor Taiwu ordered Prince Tuoba Huang to lead troops to garrison in Monan to defend Rouran, and then personally led an army southward, known as millions, and its momentum was very strong.

On the seventh day of the intercalary lunar month, the Wei army advanced to Fangtou (now west of Junxian County, Henan Province). Emperor Taiwu immediately sent Sun Zhen, the chief secretary of the palace, to lead his cavalry across the Yellow River from Shijijin to cut off the Song army's retreat; he also sent Guannei Marquis Lu Zhen and others to sneak into the sliding platform to appease the Wei army guarding the city.

The next day, Emperor Taiwu went to the front line in person and led his army across the river to attack the Song army. Wang Xuanmo, the commander-in-chief of the Song army, had been on the battlefield for nearly three months. Seeing the approaching Wei army, he panicked and abandoned his naval forces and fled before the battle. The Song army lost its leader and was in chaos. More than 10,000 people were killed and countless military supplies and equipment were lost. The Wei army captured the Song army and connected the ships with iron cables to block the Yellow River in an attempt to block the Song navy's retreat west of the sliding platform. The leader of the Song Shui Army, Yuan Huzhi, led his troops down bravely, cut the iron ropes with a big ax, broke through the three blockades, and returned with the whole army. Xiao Bin, the commander in chief of the East Route, redeployed the troops, with Wang Xuanmo guarding X; Shen Tan and Yuan Huzhi guarding Qingkou (today's Dongpingxi, Shandong); and he led the troops back to Licheng. At this point, the defeat of the Song Army on the East Road has been determined. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty ordered Liu Yuanjing and others to retreat because the army on the east route had been defeated and the Wei army was moving south. It was not suitable for Liu Yuanjing and others to advance on the west route. As a result, Hongnong, Shaancheng, Tongguan, etc. were again owned by Wei, and the brilliant achievements of the Western Route Army were in vain. From then on, the Song army shifted to a full-scale defense from east to west, and the Northern Wei Dynasty accordingly turned to a full-scale counterattack.

After the Wei army won the first battle, they divided their troops into five groups and marched southward: King Tuoba Ren of Yongchang ran from Luoyang to Shouyang; Changsun Zhen went straight to Ma Tou (south of Huaiyuan, Anhui today); King Tuoba Jian of Chu went to Zhongli (now Huaiyuan, Anhui) Northeast of Fengyang, Anhui); King Tuobana of Gaoliang went to Xiapi (southwest of today's Pi County, Jiangsu Province); Emperor Taiwu personally led the main force from Dongping (today's east of Dongping, Shandong) to Zoushan (today's southeast of Zouxian, Shandong). In early November, Emperor Taiwu's army captured Zoushan and continued to advance south. Tuoba built the two cities of Xiao (to the west of today's Xiao County, Jiangsu) and Liu (southeast of today's Pei County, Jiangsu), the gateway to Tunpeng City. Xu of the Song Dynasty, Liu Jun, the governor of Yanzhou, and Liu Yigong, the king of Jiangxia, sent army soldiers Ma Wengong and army leader Ji Xuanjing to march into Xiao and Liu cities respectively, and the two sides launched a battle for the outskirts of Pengcheng. Tuoba Ren's army defeated Xuanhu (now Runan, Henan) and Xiangcheng (now Chenqiu, Henan), and approached Shouyang. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was afraid that Shouyang would fall, so he quickly mobilized the Song army that attacked Hulao to return to Shouyang to aid. When Liu Kangzu led 8,000 soldiers to retreat dozens of miles north of Shouyang, he was overtaken by Tuoba Ren's cavalry. Liu Kangzu ordered his men to form a camp with chariots and march along the main road. The Wei army besieged them from all sides. The Song army resisted desperately and killed more than 10,000 of the enemy. But in the end, the Song army was outnumbered and the entire army was wiped out. Liu Kangzu was wounded 10 times and died from a fall from his horse. Tuoba Ren attacked Shouyang and at the same time divided his troops to attack Ma Tou, Zhongli and other places. Liu Shuo of the Song Dynasty led his troops to defend Shouyang. In December, various units of the Wei army arrived at the Huai River line. Emperor Taiwu decided to ignore Pengcheng, Shouyang and other cities and ordered his troops to go deep into the hinterland of Liu Song Dynasty and point directly at the Yangtze River. On December 3, the Wei armies crossed Huainan and advanced. Emperor Taiwu's army attacked Xuyi (now part of Jiangsu) on the road but failed to defeat it. They circled the city and continued southward. The defenders from various places in the Song Dynasty fled in despair. On the 15th, Emperor Taiwu's army arrived at Guabu (now southeast of Liuhe, Jiangsu), across the river from the Song capital Jiankang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu), and all other Wei troops also arrived on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The Wei army demolished people's houses, cut down reeds to make rafts, and promised to cross the river. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was extremely frightened and ordered the internal and external attacks in Jiankang. He ordered the leading general Liu Zunkao to lead the guards to guard the key points of Jin. The navy patrolled along the river. He also ordered the prince Liu Shao to lead the navy to guard Shitou (today's west of Nanjing, Jiangsu). Danyang Yin Xuzhan To guard Shitou Cangcheng, Jiang Zhan, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also served as the leader and president of the military.

Although Emperor Taiwu claimed to cross the river, it was actually a complete bluff. The Wei army showed off its military power for a while and fought from the north bank of the Yellow River to the north bank of the Yangtze River, passing through the six states of Songqing, Hebei, Yanzhou, Xu, Yu, and Nanyan. They burned, killed, and looted along the way. They encountered strong resistance from the people of the Jianghuai River. They all used the method of strengthening the walls and clearing the country to fight against the Wei army. The Wei army gained nothing from plundering along the way. They were short of military supplies and their men and horses were hungry. The Yangtze River was in front of them. It was difficult to cross the river without a strong navy. Behind them, there were several fortified cities in the Liu Song Dynasty that could not be conquered. They were inevitably worried about their future. At the same time, they fought along the road and lost most of their soldiers and horses. . Under this situation, it is inevitable for the Wei army to retreat. In the first month of the twenty-eighth year of Yuanjia (AD 451), the Wei army robbed more than 50,000 households and withdrew its troops to the north. After the Wei army retreated, the Song army did not dare to take the initiative to pursue them along the way. The Wei army retreated safely, and the war came to an end.