Among them, the competition between the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou was particularly outstanding. These two dynasties that were prosperous at the time finally ushered in a turning battle after many battles. This battle was initiated by the Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong w

Preface

In Chinese history, there was a period of melee between the north and the south, which was the period of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was also a period when ethnic minorities competed for the Central Plains dynasty. Among them, the competition between Northern Qi and Northern Zhou was particularly outstanding. These two dynasties that were prosperous at the time finally ushered in a turning battle after many battles. This battle was led by the Northern Zhou Emperor Yu Wenyong Taking advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Northern Qi Dynasty, it was launched, known in history as the Battle of He Yin.

The background of the Battle of Heyin

The Battle of Heyin took place in the last years of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The Northern Qi Dynasty was established by Gao Yang, the second son of Gao Huan, a powerful official in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Gao Yang had only been in the country for twenty-eight years. The Gao family was treacherous. Cunning, most of the reigning emperors were short-lived, either cruel and violent, or stupid and incompetent. Therefore, he only briefly experienced the pleasure of being the leader of a country. In just twenty years, good generals were killed, traitors took over, and the country's power weakened. Under such circumstances, it was not difficult for Yuwen Yong to conquer Northern Qi in one fell swoop. However, the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty have been fierce rivals for many years. Even if they are confident, they must plan carefully and not underestimate the enemy.

▲Overview of the Northern Zhou Dynasty

1, a generation of famous ministers Hu Luguang

A generation of famous ministers and loyal ministers were unjustly killed, which has been a matter of great regret for people since ancient times, and Hu Luguang was one of them. The last emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty was named Gaowei . Gaowei was extremely seductive and listened to slander. During his reign, he was not only seized of land by Nanchen in the Battle of Huainan and suffered a defeat, he was also punished for treason. Killed many loyal ministers, such as General Hu Luguang and King Lanling Gao Changgong. King Lanling was given poisoned wine and committed suicide, while Hu Luguang's fate was even worse. He was a famous general in the Northern Qi Dynasty. He had made many military exploits and was loyal to the Northern Qi royal family. Even when facing the soldiers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he never Defeat. He had a strong opponent, the Northern Zhou general Wei Xiaokuan . Wei Xiaokuan knew that the late master Gao Wei favored a treacherous person and was stupid and corrupt, so he persuaded Hu Luguang to surrender many times, hoping that he could join the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Unfortunately, the loyal Hu Lvguang The light remained unmoved.

2, unjust killing of loyal ministers

Although Wei Xiaokuan had the intention of loving talents, Wei Xiaokuan still decided to deal with Hu Luguang ruthlessly. He decided to sow the relationship between Gao Wei and Hu Luguang, create some rumors, and use Gao Wei to satisfy your own purpose. He sent people to spread rumors and told Gao Wei that Hu Luguang intended to rebel. He used Gao Wei's suspicion to successfully instigate a rebellion against the relationship between emperor and ministers. He also spread rumors that Hu Luguang's family had a large amount of gold and silver, all of which he planned to use for rebellion. As expected, Gao Wei believed the rumors and decided to kill Hu Luguang, so he pretended to invite Hu Luguang to visit Dongshan on the pretext of rewarding him for his merits, and asked the people lying in ambush around to wait for an opportunity to kill Hu Luguang. Unfortunately he was killed. Later, Gao Wei also inspected Hu Luguang's family background, but Hu Luguang was honest throughout his life and had no money left. All the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty deeply regretted and grieved the death of Hu Luguang.

▲ Hu Luguang

3, proposed crusade

After Hu Luguang died, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yu Wenyong was extremely happy, because his strongest opponents were dead, so he could attack the Northern Qi Dynasty without any scruples. He immediately summoned ministers to discuss strategies to deal with Northern Qi. Wei Xiaokuan suggested that he order troops to be gathered from the border and attack Northern Qi from the east. Yu Wenyong accepted his suggestion. After Hu Luguang died, no one in Northern Qi could go to war and could only choose to defend to the death. However, at this time, the Northern Qi Dynasty had no generals to lead troops outside and treacherous ministers were in power internally. It was impossible to resist the powerful Northern Zhou army.

The process of the Battle of He Yin

At the time when the Northern Qi Dynasty was in chaos, Yu Wenyong sent 100,000 troops and sent capable ministers from all walks of life to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty from six directions. Among them was Sui Guogong Yang Jian, who was later Sui The founding emperor of the dynasty . In order to boost morale, Yu Wenyong personally led the main force to attack He Yin. The army pressed on the border, and Gao Wei had no time to react.He intended to find available talents to go on an expedition, but he had just killed King Lanling and Hu Luguang. Suddenly there was no one in the country who could resist the Northern Zhou army. Only then did he regret killing King Lanling and Hu Luguang. , It's a pity that people can't be resurrected after death. Gao Wei's pride and suspicion finally made him pay the price.

▲The border between the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi

1, combat deployment

Although the Northern Qi was exhausted, it still could not underestimate the carelessness in war strategies. After the Northern Zhou army entered the territory of the Northern Qi, in order to win the hearts and minds of the people and build goodwill, Yuwen Yong ordered his subordinates to be strict with themselves. It is not allowed to cut down trees or trample crops. Violators will be punished by military law. On August 24th, Yu Wenyong personally commanded the army to attack the main city of Heyin, and there were also people responsible for attacking the surrounding cities. He sent Yu Wenxian to attack Wuji first, then attack Luokou, and attack the east and west cities at the same time, almost The water around He Yin is blocked.

2, Northern Qi reinforcements

Although Northern Qi lost its general Hu Luguang before this, there were also soldiers who fought desperately to resist. At that time, He Yin's troops were not strong enough to resist, so he asked for reinforcements from surrounding cities. Fu Fu, the governor of Yongqiao, received the rescue plan and assembled his troops to prepare reinforcements. It was originally planned to pass through the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, but because the Northern Zhou army destroyed the pontoon in advance, it could not pass, so it was diverted to Zhongli City.

▲Northern Zhou Dynasty Emperor Yuwenyong

On the other side, after capturing Heyang City, the Northern Zhou army led by Yuwenyong prepared to besiege Zhongli City in one go. As a result, the new reinforcements were more difficult to deal with than the previous guards. Yuwenyong suffered. After attacking for more than 20 days, we failed to capture it. And all this can be attributed to Dugu Yongye, the governor of Luozhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty. Although the court was fatuous, he was still loyal and never gave in.

3. Retreating during illness

Under such circumstances, Yu Wenyong suddenly fell seriously ill. While the city could not be captured, his condition became more and more serious. This gave Northern Qi a chance to breathe. Although the emperor of Northern Qi was fatuous and treacherous ministers were in power, there were still loyal people. The war situation was tense. In September, the right prime minister Gao Anahu led troops from Jinyang to support Heyang. At this time, the Northern Zhou army took too long to attack the city, was short of food, had its general seriously ill, and was completely exhausted after being unable to attack for a long time. Under this situation, Yu Wenyong knew that it was not advisable to fight for a long time. For the sake of overall planning, he decisively withdrew his troops, gave up the siege, and went back to recharge his batteries for the future.

▲Northern Qi Dynasty Gaowei

The results of the Battle of Heyin

Although the war ended with the withdrawal of troops by the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty did not win the war. On the surface, the Northern Qi Dynasty escaped a disaster, but in fact this This war had sown the seeds of Northern Qi's future demise. Because in the Battle of Heyin, the Northern Qi Dynasty only survived by chance, and the reason why the Northern Zhou Dynasty withdrew its troops was because Yuwen Yong was seriously ill and had to retreat. Generally speaking, the strength of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is still higher than that of the Northern Qi. What's more, in order to attack the Northern Qi, the Northern Zhou Dynasty formulated a detailed battle plan. However, the Northern Qi Dynasty lacks talents, the national government is in chaos, and is not far from the road to destruction. The battle of Heyin is just the beginning. .

1. Not wanting to make progress

Although the Northern Qi Dynasty had a lucky escape in the Battle of Heyin, it still had no intention of making progress. Gao Wei was arrogant and cruel, calling himself the "King without Worry", ignoring government affairs all day long and indulging in wine and sex. Not only that, he also granted official positions at will, and even granted official positions to his own pets. Anyone who raised objections would be killed. Officials dared to be angry and dared not speak out. In addition to the murder of Hu Luguang, the famous general King Lanling also Because of his great achievements, he was given poisonous wine. Gao Wei's mediocrity and incompetence not only made the emperor and ministers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty look down upon him, but also the courtiers of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In the eyes of the people, the emperor's mediocrity also made them miserable. Therefore, when the Northern Zhou Dynasty attacked the Northern Qi Dynasty, in the eyes of most people Here, it is a just battle.

▲The Battle of He Yin

2, Comeback

When Yuwen Yong had to withdraw his troops because of illness, he had already planned how to attack Northern Qi next time, but he still needed to plan it slowly.In October of the following year, Yuwen Yong regrouped his army to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty. Most of them were members of the Yuwen family. In addition, Yuwen Yong sent Sui Duke Yang Jian to lead the army for the second time. This expedition was so grand that Yu Wenyong once again went on a personal expedition. He led his army into the Northern Qi Dynasty and stationed the army in Jinzhou. At the same time, he ordered Yu Wenxian to lead 20,000 elite troops to guard Queshu Valley. Various generals of the Northern Zhou Dynasty guarded different places, and also sent a group of troops to intercept the Qi army heading north for help.

Gao Wei, the empress of the Northern Qi Dynasty, heard that the Northern Zhou Dynasty was attacking again, so he personally led his army to Jinzhou to prepare for a decisive battle with Yuwen Yong. At this time, the frontline soldiers were unable to resist, and the generals voluntarily surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Yuwen Yong came to Jinzhou in person to supervise the war. The governor of Jinzhou could not defend himself tightly and decided to surrender after failing to wait for reinforcements in the later stage. Before Gao Wei arrived in Jinzhou, many Northern Qi generals voluntarily surrendered. This situation was very unfavorable for Northern Qi.

▲Northern Zhou Territory Map

3, Northern Zhou Destroyed Qi

By the time reinforcements from Gao Latitude arrived in Pingyang, the Northern Qi army had already been defeated. After weighing the pros and cons, Yu Wenyong withdrew the main force from Jinzhou, leaving 10,000 troops to hold on. After several attacks, more than 10,000 Northern Qi troops were killed. The huge Northern Qi army was completely defeated. Gaowei could only retreat to other cities, and the Northern Zhou army pursued the victory. In this war, the Northern Zhou Dynasty finally destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty and unified the north and the south. A year later, Yang Jian, the Duke of Sui, accepted the abdication and established the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty finally destroyed Nanchen and unified the Central Plains.

summary

Although the Northern Zhou Dynasty did not win the Battle of Heyin, this war also paved the way for the later Northern Zhou Dynasty's battle to destroy the Northern Qi Dynasty , and this also inspired new conflicts in the Northern Qi court. The Battle of Heyin was the beginning of the Northern Zhou Dynasty's destruction of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and it was also the most important war. In this war, the Northern Zhou army won the support of the Northern Qi people. Because they did not burn, kill, and loot, they gained the love of the people. At the same time, the Battle of Heyin triggered the opportunity for the Northern Zhou Dynasty to unify the north and the south, and also laid the foundation for the subsequent Sui Dynasty to unify the Central Plains.

▲The Northern Zhou destroyed the Northern Qi

References

"Twenty-Four Histories"

" Zi Zhi Tong Jian "

"Research on the History of the Northern Dynasties"