How did Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, pacify Chen in the Southern Dynasty?

From December to February of the eighth year of Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (588), during the Sui Unification War, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian used more than 500,000 land and water troops to attack and destroy the large-scale crossing of the Chen Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River. Jiang fought.

In order to destroy the Chen Dynasty and unify the north and the south, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian sent Kaifu Yi, the third minister He Ruobi, and the governor of Hezhou Han Qinhu to Wuzhou and Lu in March of the first year of Kaihuang. The governor of the state was stationed in Guangling, Jiangbei (now northwest of Yangzhou, Jiangsu) and Lujiang (now Hefei), making preparations to destroy Chen. In September, Chen general Zhou Luohou captured Hushu in the Sui area north of Jiangbei (today's southwest of Liuhe, Jiangsu). General Xiao Mohe led his troops to attack Jiangbei, and the Sui Dynasty sent troops to fight back. Later, due to frequent Turkic attacks in the north (see the Turks' attack on the Sui Dynasty), Yang Jian changed his military strategy of fighting between the south and the north, first north and then south. In the first month of the second year, Chen Houzhu (Shubao) succeeded to the throne, asked for peace from the Sui Dynasty, and returned Hushu; in the second month, the Sui Dynasty withdrew its troops in the name of "propriety does not cut down on mourning". After that, he sent envoys to visit Chen many times to express reconciliation. In three years, the Sui Dynasty won the counterattack against the Turks (see the Sui Dynasty's Counterattack against the Turks), which eliminated the threat from the north. After several years of governance, the national and military power were greatly enhanced. However, the politics of the Chen Dynasty became increasingly corrupt, the treasury was empty, and internal conflicts were acute. So the Sui Dynasty stepped up preparations to destroy Chen. In October of the fifth year, Yang Jian appointed Yang Su, the Duke of Qinghe, as the general manager of Guangzhou and conducted a military expedition to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At the same time, in the years 5, 6, and 7, hundreds of thousands of people were mobilized to repair the Great Wall in Shuofang (zhiyanlu, today's Nanbaichengzi, Wushen Banner, Inner Mongolia) and Lingwu (zhihuile, southwest of today's Lingwu, Ningxia), and in The eastern edge of Shuofang was dangerous, and dozens of fortifications were built to strengthen the northern border defense and ensure that the rear would be worry-free when advancing south. In August of the seventh year, he marched into Jiangling (now part of Hubei), annexed Xiaoliang (formerly a small political power supported by the Northern Zhou Dynasty), and removed obstacles to the southward advance. In November, Yang Jian and his ministers discussed the strategy of attacking Chen. Shangshu Zuo Pushe Gao Jiong proposed: During the harvest season in the south of the Yangtze River, a small number of troops should be used to attack, forcing Chen to gather troops to defend, so as to delay the farming season. As soon as they gathered troops, I would disarm them. This happened so many times that Chen Jun became accustomed to it. After being paralyzed and slack, he then raised his troops to cross the river, landed and attacked, sent people to sneak into Chenjing, set fire to it repeatedly, burned its reserves and supplies, and exhausted all its financial resources. Cui Zhongfang, the governor of Guozhou, proposed: Deploy elite troops in key areas along the river east of Wuchang (today's Ezhou, Hubei Province), and secretly prepare to cross the river. ), Jing (governing present-day Jiangling, Hubei Province) and other places quickly built warships and prepared for water battles; if Chen Ru sent elite troops to the upper reaches to assist, the generals downstream could take advantage of the opportunity to cross the river; if Chen supported the troops to defend themselves, the armies of the upper reaches could go eastward along the river. Take Jiankang (now Nanjing) directly. Yang Su, He Ruobi and others also proposed strategies to defeat Chen. Yang Jianjun adopted it. Before attacking Chen, the Sui Dynasty ordered Li Yan, the governor of Jiezhou, to build the "Wuya" (large warship equipped with a shooting pole), "Huanglong" and other warships in Badong County (now east of Fengjie, Sichuan) on Xiangzhou Road. , strengthen the navy. Deliberately floating shipbuilding waste in the river to intimidate the Chen people. He Ruobi sold his old horses, bought a large number of Chen ships, hid them, and bought fifty or sixty dilapidated ships and parked them in small rivers, making the Chen army think that the Sui army had no warships. On many occasions, soldiers who were on guard were gathered in Guangling, banners were displayed, and camps were spread all over the fields. Soldiers were also ordered to shoot and hunt along the river, making noise between men and horses, in order to confuse Chen's army and make it unguarded. In March of the eighth year, Yang Jian issued an edict, listing the crimes of empress Chen and sending a seal to expose 20 of his crimes. He distributed 300,000 copies of the edict in Jiangnan to win people's hearts. In October, Yang Jian established Huainan Xingtai Province in Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province), and appointed King Yang Guang of Jin as the Shangshu Order of Xingtai, in charge of the destruction of Chen. Yang Guang, King Qin Yang Jun, and Yang Su were appointed as marching marshals, Gao Jiong was appointed as the marshal of the Jin Dynasty, and Wang Shao, the right servant, was appointed as Sima. He concentrated 518,000 navy and army troops, and was led by Yang Guang to control the sea in the east and the sea in the west. To Ba and Shu, there were banners and boats spanning thousands of miles. The Sui army was divided into 8 lines from the upper reaches to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to attack Chen: Yang Su commanded the main force of the navy to leave Badong County and go eastward along the Yangtze River to eliminate the Chenshui army along the Yangtze River and along the Yangtze River; Yang Jun commanded the 3 lines upstream to attack Jiangxia (today's Wuchang ) to control the Yangtze River and prevent Chen's army from the upstream from aiding eastward; Yang Guang commanded the 5th Route downstream to cross the river and attack Jiankang, the capital of Chen. In November, Yang Jian went to Dingcheng (now Huayindong, Shaanxi Province) to swear an oath. Sui armies preparing to cross the river arrived on the north bank of the Yangtze River to complete preparations for the attack.

Empress Chen was dissolute, arrogant and politically corrupt. He neither understood military affairs nor accepted the advice of his generals. He relied on the "Yangtze River natural chasm" and neglected defense.

In order to celebrate Yuanhui (i.e. Spring Festival), the two sons who were guarding the important towns along the Yangtze River, Jiangzhou (today's Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province) and Nanxuzhou (today's Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province) were ordered to lead warships back to Jiankang, which made the river defense even weaker. In December, the Sui army first launched an attack on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Yang Jun supervised more than 100,000 naval troops who left Xiangyang (now part of Hubei) and entered Hankou (now the mouth of the Han River in Hubei Province where it enters the Yangtze River). Chen Ming's Sanqi often served Zhou Luohou, the governor of Baxia Yuanjiang, in the military affairs. He and the governor of Yingzhou, Xun Fashang's tribe, numbered tens of thousands, and guarded Jiangxia. They fought against Yang Jun's army for more than a month. At that time, Zhou Fashang, the commander-in-chief of the Sui army, led a fleet of 30,000 troops to Fankou (now west of Ezhou, Hubei Province) and defeated the resisting Chen army. Yang Su led his navy out of Badong and marched eastward along the Three Gorges. Liu Renen, the governor of Jingzhou, marched westward from Jiangling. The two armies cooperated and used both land and water to attack and occupy Langwei Beach (now northwest of Yichang, Hubei Province) (see the Battle of Langwei Beach). Defeated Chen Shoujiang Qi Xin; in the first month of the following year, he defeated the key points at the mouth of Xiling Gorge (see the battles of Qiting and Yanzhou), defeated the army of Lu Zhongsu, the internal history of Chen Nankang, and continued down the river. Chen Hui, the governor of Chen Jingzhou's Jitun Public Security Bureau (today's northwest Hubei Public Security Bureau), seeing that the situation was over, led 30,000 troops and more than a thousand ships to the east of the Yangtze River in an attempt to aid Jiankang, but Yang Jun's army stopped him west of Hankou. Yang Su then sent his main force eastward along the Yangtze River to join Yang Jun's army in Hankou, and sent another unit south to Xiangzhou (which governs present-day Changsha, Hunan) to capture Chen Shushen, the king of Chen Yueyang. On the first day of the first lunar month of the ninth year, the Sui army in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River took advantage of Chen Huan to celebrate the Yuanhui Festival and crossed the river in separate ways. He Ruobi's army left Guangling and crossed to the south. Han's captured Hu's army left Lujiang and crossed at night from Hengjiangkou (now southeast of He County, Anhui Province) and captured Caishi (now southwest of Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province). Yang Guang's army left Liuhe (now Jiangsu Province) and entered Taoye Mountain. (Today's southeast of Liuhe). On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Shubao noticed that the situation was unfavorable and issued an order to his personal commander Chen Jun to resist the enemy. He ordered the hussar general Xiao Mohe, the guard general Fan Yi, and the central leader Lu Guangda to serve as governors. He also sent Fan Meng, the governor of Southern Yuzhou, to lead the navy to defend Baixia (now outside Jinchuan Gate in the north of Nanjing) to resist the Sui army in Liuhe. Gao Wenzou, a regular servant of Sanqi, led his troops to guard southern Yuzhou (Zhigushu, now Dangtu, Anhui). The Sui army actively advanced after breaking through the Yangtze River defense line. On the sixth day of the lunar month, He Ruobi's army captured Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) and captured Huang Ke, the governor of Southern Xuzhou. More than 6,000 people were captured and all were released with preferential treatment. He Ruobi then sent one of his troops to garrison Qu'a (now Danyang, Jiangsu) to prevent reinforcements from the Chen army of Sanwu (now east and south of Taihu Lake in Jiangsu and Shaoxing, Zhejiang, etc.), and led the main force to advance westward; Han captured the Tiger Army on the seventh day of the lunar month After capturing Gushu and advancing eastward along the Yangtze River, Gao Wenzuo's army was defeated and retreated to Jiankang. He Ruobi and Han Qinhu's armies advanced from the north and south to attack Jiankang. Empress Chen abandoned the dangers of Zhongshan (today's Purple Mountain in Nanjing) and Shitou (today's Qingliang Mountain in the west of Nanjing) and ordered his troops to garrison inside and outside the capital. On the 15th, Chen Zhendong's general Ren Zhong led his troops from Wuxing (now south of Huzhou, Zhejiang) to aid Jiankang and garrisoned Zhuquemen (south gate of Jiankang City). On the 17th, He Ruobi's army marched into Zhongshan and stationed in the east of Baitugang in the south of Shannan. Du Yan, the general manager who crossed the river to capture Nanling (now southwest of Guichi, Anhui), and Han Qinhu combined an army of 20,000 infantry and cavalry to station in Xinlin (now Xinlin). southwest of Nanjing). Yu Wenshu, the general manager of the march, led 30,000 troops across the river and captured Shitou. At this point, the Sui army had surrounded Jiankang. At this time, in order to cooperate with the main offensive of the Sui army, the Qizhou governor Wang Shiji's army attacked Qikou (southwest of today's Qichun) from Qichun (now north of Qichun, Hubei), and defeated Chen Jiangji. The East China Sea (southwest of today's Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province) went south along the coast to Taihu Lake. Facing the Sui army's offensive, Chen Shubao did not adopt the advice of his generals, resulting in more than 100,000 Chen troops near Jiankang doing nothing. On the 20th, Chen Jun was ordered to go into battle in a hurry. He lined up 20 miles north and south of Baitugang, advancing and retreating without knowing each other. He Ruobi's army suffered a disadvantage in the first battle, and then attacked the weak part of Chen's army, causing Chen's army to retreat across the board (see the Battle of Baitugang). At the same time, the Han captured the tiger army entered Shizigang (now Yuhuatai, Nanjing), and Chen General Ren Zhong welcomed the surrender. He led the Korean captured tiger army to Jiankang through Zhuque Gate and captured the empress Chen. That night, He Ruobi's army also entered the city from Beiye Gate. On the 22nd, Yang Guang arrived in Jiankang and ordered Chen Shubao to recruit the generals upstream to surrender in handwriting. Zhou Luohou, Chen Huiji and others were all demoted. On the 29th, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ordered envoys to inspect Chenzhou and counties. In February, the defenders of Wuzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province) and other places refused to surrender and were defeated by the troops of Yuwenshu and Yanrong. The governors of several counties in Lingnan were led by Mrs. Xian of Gaoliang (now Yangjiangxi, Guangdong) and refused to defend the territory. Emperor Wen issued an edict to send Zhuguo Wei Shen and others to pacify him, and all the states in Lingnan returned to the Sui Dynasty