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Chapter 380: A Scholar Turns the Tide

Liang Hongyu did this because she was well aware of the political environment at the time - if she over-publicized her and her husband's contributions, it would likely lead to unnecessary trouble. So she chose to protect her and her husband's reputation in this way.

After the Battle of Huangtiandang, Liang Hongyu and Han Shizhong continued to serve the Southern Song Dynasty and achieved brilliant results in many battles against the Jin army.

In the sixth year of Shaoxing (1136), Han Shizhong was appointed as the governor of Wuning and Anhua, and the governor of Jingdong and Huaidong, and started his official office in Chuzhou. Liang Hongyu followed her husband to Chuzhou, and "wove thin cloth to build a house", sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.

However, as time went by, they also felt the cruelty and ruthlessness of political struggle. After Qin Hui came to power, he advocated peace talks, which led to the Song Dynasty signing the Shaoxing Peace Agreement with the Jin Kingdom despite its military advantage.

Emperor Gaozong also began to take away military power, with Han Shizhong being the first to bear the brunt. On the issue of war or peace, Han Shizhong firmly advocated fighting against the Jin army, and was reprimanded by Emperor Gaozong many times.

After realizing that she could not help Yue Fei save his life, Liang Hongyu immediately advised her husband to retreat in order to advance. The couple retired to Hangzhou, closed their doors to visitors, and lived a quiet and leisurely life from then on.

However, this kind of life did not last long. In the 1151st year of Shaoxing (), Han Shizhong died of illness. In grief, Liang Hongyu chose to continue to serve the Southern Song Dynasty until the last moment of her life.

After Liang Hongyu's death, she was given the title of "Lady Anguo" by the court and buried with Han Shizhong at the foot of Lingyan Mountain in Suzhou. The posthumous inscription lamented: "Wealth and honor should not end with old age together." Liang Hongyu's life proved the power and value of women with her actions, and her story will always inspire future generations.

[A scholar who turned the tide with unpredictable tactics, but was seriously ignored by later generations. Historical trivia and historical figures]

A mere scholar was able to turn the tide, using unpredictable tactics to defeat the enemy three times with fewer troops and repel the invading enemies. No matter what kind of difficulties he faced, he could remain calm.

However, this hero who should have been the backbone of the country ended up being killed by traitors. He is the god of war who has been seriously neglected by later generations - Xie Ai.

Xie Ai was a native of Dunhuang, Liangzhou during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was smart and studious, proficient in the Spring and Autumn Annals, and was a famous scholar in the local area. However, Xie Ai's talent was not limited to book knowledge. He also studied the art of war and often discussed military strategies with others.

In the second year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Qianliang regime encountered an unprecedented crisis. After Chen Qianliang and the new army Zhang Chonghua ascended the throne, the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Hu sent General Ma Qiu and others to attack Qianliang in an attempt to annex the north. Ma Qiu was known for his bravery and good fighting skills. The army he led was unstoppable and successively conquered the five streets of Qianliang, the capital and other places, and approached the Qianliang capital.

Faced with the powerful enemy, the Qianliang Army was in a panic. Zhang Chonghua, who was only 16 years old, actively organized the army to resist. However, the Qianliang Army had been away from the battlefield for a long time and had low morale, making it difficult to compete with the elite army of the Later Zhao Dynasty.

At this critical moment, the shogunate recommended Xie Ai to Zhang Chonghua. Some people commented that Xie Ai was both civil and military, and had a deep understanding of military strategy. If he was given an axe and entrusted with a special expedition, he would surely be able to defeat the enemy. After hearing this, Zhang Chonghua immediately summoned Xie Ai.

Xie Ai was not at all nervous when facing Zhang Chonghua's question, and said confidently: "Geng Yan, a founding hero of the Eastern Han Dynasty, eliminated the bandits before Emperor Guangwu of Han led his troops to arrive; the Shu general Huang Quan was willing to lead 10,000 people as a vanguard to eliminate the Eastern Wu. Your Highness only needs to give me 7,000 soldiers, and I can help Your Highness swallow up Ma Qiu." Zhang Chonghua was infected by Xie Ai's heroism, so he decided to appoint him as a core general to lead 5,000 infantry and cavalry to fight Ma Qiu.

One night when the two armies were fighting, two owls were calling in the camp, which frightened the soldiers and they thought it was a bad omen. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Xie Ai explained: "In the game of Liubo, the person who gets the chess piece with the owl pattern often wins. Now the owls are calling in the camp, which is a sign of victory over the enemy." As ancient people were more superstitious, the soldiers were greatly encouraged after hearing this and expressed their willingness to fight bravely.

Xie Ai decided to seize the opportunity to start a war. He knew that it would be difficult to win a direct confrontation with the Zhao army, so he adopted a surprise attack tactic. He marched quickly to the rear of the Zhao army's vanguard, and then took advantage of the Zhao army's exhaustion and lack of defense to launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night. This tactic was completely unexpected by the Zhao army, causing them to be attacked by the money and grain army while they were still asleep, and they were quickly defeated.

After Ma Qiu received the battle report, he immediately led the army to attack Xie Ai. However, Xie Ai, who had taken the initiative, had already laid a trap. Ma Qiu did not realize that he had rushed into the ambush circle of the money and grain army. As a result, the Zhao army was in chaos before the direct battle. Xie Ai took the opportunity to launch a general attack, and the Zhao army was eventually defeated and fled, with more than 5,000 people beheaded. After the war, Xie Ai was named Fu Bo by Zhang Chonghua for his merits.

In April of the third year of Yonghe, Ma Qiu, unwilling to accept defeat, led his army again to attack Huyan, a strategic location for money and grain, with more than 20,000 troops behind him. When Zhang Chonghua learned the news, he immediately appointed Xie Ai to lead 30,000 infantry and cavalry to march to Linhe to meet the enemy.

In this battle, Xie Ai did not choose to confront the huge Zhao army head-on, but adopted a series of clever tactics. He knew that Ma Qiu was hot-tempered and easily impulsive, so he deliberately rode a light carriage, wore a white cap, and beat drums to cheer. The purpose was to provoke Ma Qiu. Ma Qiu really fell into the trap and thought that Xie Ai's scholarly appearance was a sign of contempt for him, so he changed his plan and ordered 3,000 dragon cavalry equipped with black spears to launch an attack.

Xie Ai's soldiers were horrified when they saw this, and they all urged him to fight on horseback. However, Xie Ai created a trick to confuse the enemy. He calmly got off the carriage and then sat on the ground to command the deployment. This move made the enemy army suspicious, and Ma Qiu immediately stopped the attack and did not dare to move forward easily.

However, before Xie Ai used the strategy of false troops, he had already sent General Zhang Mao to lead the cavalry to go around the enemy's rear through a small road, and launched a surprise attack while the Zhao army was watching. The Zhao army's rear was cut off and fell into chaos. Seeing that the time was ripe, Xie Ai immediately ordered the main force to attack all fronts, and formed a pincer attack with Zhang Mao against Ma Qiu. In the end, under Xie Ai's exquisite command, the morale of the Qianliang army was greatly boosted, Ma Qiu was defeated, two enemy generals were beheaded, and more than 13,000 enemies were captured and killed.

After the war, Xie Ai was promoted to the position of Taifu Zuo Changshi for his merits and was rewarded with 5,000 taels of gold and 8,000 pieces of cloth.

In May of the third year of Yonghe, Ma Qiu gathered an army of 120,000 and attempted to counterattack again to avenge the previous defeat. After occupying Jinxing, Guangwu and other places, he approached the money and grain. Zhang Chonghua originally planned to go to the battle himself, but was dissuaded by Xie Ai and others. So Zhang Chonghua once again appointed Xie Ai to lead less than 20,000 troops to meet the enemy.

In this battle, Xie Ai chose to confront Ma Qiu head-on, but before that, he had used the terrain advantage to set up ambushes on the top of the mountain and in the village of Gulang. These ambushes acted quickly and constantly harassed the flanks and rear of the Zhao army during the main battle between the two armies, causing Ma Qiu to never dare to attack with all his strength. At the same time, Xie Ai also constantly used psychological tactics to undermine the morale of the enemy.

He used various channels to spread false information to the enemy, making them confused. Zhao Jun's repeated misjudgments led to the decline of soldiers' fighting spirit. Finally, when the time was right, Xie Ai launched a general attack. Ma Qiu was defeated again and fled, and had to retreat to the capital. On his way back, Xie Ai also conquered more than 10,000 rebellious tribes, beheaded more than 4,000 people, and captured more than 100,000 cattle and sheep.

Xie Ai's three great victories won precious peace time for the Qianliang regime. With his outstanding military talents and the qualities of both wisdom and courage, he became the mainstay of the Qianliang regime.

However, Xie Ai's brilliant achievements also aroused the jealousy and exclusion of some ministers. They all falsely accused Xie Ai of being arrogant and plotting against the law. Although Zhang Chonghua had great confidence in Xie Ai, he was forced to send him out as the governor of Jiuquan under pressure.

After that, Zhang Zuo attempted to seize power, and Xie Ai was deeply worried about this. He wrote to Zhang Chonghua many times, suggesting that Zhang Zuo and others be expelled, and asked to return to the court to assist in government affairs. However, Zhang Chonghua's will was intercepted by Zhang Zuo and others and did not reach Xie Ai.

In October of the ninth year of Yonghe, Zhang Chonghua died of illness. Zhang Zuo deposed the crown prince Zhang Yaoling and proclaimed himself emperor. He then began to kill many important officials to consolidate his throne, including the famous general Xie Ai. From then on, the money and grain regime lost its last pillar.

[An unpopular national hero who fought almost alone in the Central Plains for more than a decade. Historical trivia and historical figures]

This is a national hero whose name is not well-known. In the era of the Five Barbarians' invasion of China and the encirclement of powerful enemies, he relied on his wisdom, courage and tenacity to almost single-handedly defend the Central Plains for 14 years, defeated powerful enemies several times and went to Luoyang three times. He was the famous anti-enemy general in the late Jin Dynasty - Li Ju.

Li Ju was born in 240 AD in Pingyang. When he was young, he worked as a minor official in the county. Later, while escorting the resigned county magistrate to Chang'an, he was appreciated by Sima Rong, the King of Liang, for his witty handling of an emergency on the way.

Although the history books do not give detailed explanations, he was appointed as a yamen general, mainly responsible for commanding soldiers and directing battles.

This position not only requires the incumbent to be smart and brave, but also to be able to fight in the battlefield. This shows that Li Ju has certain military capabilities and should have resolved some difficult problems during the escort.

Qi Wannian was the leader of the Di tribe during the Western Jin Dynasty. In the sixth year of Yuankang (296 AD), he rose up against the Jin Dynasty and quickly occupied the Guanzhong region, posing a serious threat to the Western Jin regime. In order to quell the rebellion, the Western Jin court sent many armies to attack, including the army led by Liang Wang Sima Rong. Li Ju, as a general under Sima Rong, also participated in this battle.

In the process of conquering Qi Wannian, Li Ju made great achievements with his outstanding command ability. He led his troops deep into the enemy's rear and fought fierce battles with Qi Wannian's rebels many times, not only successfully pinning down the main force of the rebels, but also buying precious fighting time for friendly forces.

Finally, with the joint efforts of Li Ju and others, the Western Jin army put down the rebellion of Qi Wannian. Li Ju's reputation and status in the army were further enhanced. He was awarded the title of Marquis of Dongmingting for his merits and served as the Protector General at the same time.

However, Pingyang Governor Song Zhong wanted his relative Wuji to be the Protector General. Li Ju did not want to have a conflict with him, so he pretended to be sick and left. But the narrow-minded Wuji was worried that Li Ju would regret it, so he secretly sent someone to assassinate him. Fortunately, Li Ju was rescued by a kind-hearted person and saved his life.

From 291 to 306 AD, the Eight Kings Rebellion broke out in the Western Jin Dynasty. Although Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, became the ultimate winner of this turmoil, the situation remained unstable because the northern ethnic groups took advantage of the chaos to invade the Central Plains. The rise of the Xiongnu Liu Yuan and the Jie Shi Le became a huge threat to Sima Yue.

In 307 AD, the Central Plains was in chaos. Liu Yuan established the Han Kingdom and his power expanded rapidly. The Jie cavalry led by Shi Le was even more ferocious and unstoppable, conquering cities and territories. When the Xiongnu Liu Yuan invaded Li Ju's hometown of Pingyang, Li Ju chose to join Sima Yue and was appointed as the governor of Ruyin. Afterwards, he began to recruit refugees and form a self-defense armed force. In the early years of Yongjia, he led the people to build Qianjinyu together with Yuan Fu, the governor of Runan, to facilitate water and land transportation.

Three years later, the Han general Shi Le attacked Xingyang. Li Ju arranged for the old, weak, sick and disabled to herd cattle and horses in the mountains to lure the enemy. At that time, Shi Le's soldiers rushed to chase the cattle and horses, and Li Ju's ambush troops suddenly attacked with loud shouts, and the enemy army was immediately panicked and suffered heavy losses.

In June 310 AD, Liu Yao, a general of the Han Dynasty, attacked Huaicheng. Guo Mo, the governor of Henei, could not resist and prepared to go to Xinzheng to join Li Ju. Li Ju planned to arrange his general Guo Song to lead troops to support him, but he did not dare to advance rashly due to insufficient troops. It happened that Liu Hong of Jingzhou sent his military officer Zhang Zhao to lead 6 Xianbei cavalry to Chang'an to meet Emperor Min, and on the way back, they passed by Li Ju's camp.

Li Ju knew that the Xianbei cavalry under Liu Yao were always afraid of surprise attacks, so he persuaded Zhang Zhao to attack Liu Yao's troops together. Sure enough, Liu Yao's troops fled without fighting after seeing the Xianbei cavalry. Guo Song then took the opportunity to cross the river and attack Huaicheng at night.

In the first year of Jianwu (317 AD), Emperor Liu Cong of the Han Dynasty sent Liu Chang to lead cavalrymen to attack Yingchuan. When Liu Chang approached Li Ju's station, he tried to persuade Li Ju to surrender. Because the enemy came too quickly, Li Ju's troops were not ready for battle, so he prepared to use a false surrender strategy.

In order to convince Liu Chang, Li Ju hid all the elite troops, so that the enemy could only see the old, weak and sick, and offered cattle and wine as a token of surrender. Liu Chang was caught off guard and held a banquet to celebrate, and the soldiers in the barracks got drunk one after another.

After Li Ju learned of the enemy's situation, he immediately ordered Guo Song to lead a thousand warriors to attack Liu Chang's camp at night. In the end, thousands of people were killed in one fell swoop, and Liu Chang was the only one who escaped. After the battle, Li Ju found Liu Cong's letter among the seized items.

The letter ordered Liu Chang to eliminate Li Ju and then go to Luoyang to kill Zhao Gu, who was the garrison commander of Luoyang in the Han Dynasty and had an unfriendly relationship with the chief secretary Zhou Zhen.

Zhou Zhen, out of personal grudge, slandered Zhao Gu to Liu Cong, who then ordered Liu Chang to capture and execute Zhao Gu on the way back from Li Ju's victory.