The Battle of Two Rivers in March of the sixth year of Guanghe ended.
In this battle, the Taishan Army defeated two counties and three armies, and its power was unparalleled for a while. The Taiping Road in Yanyu became more powerful, and they all believed that the time for an uprising had come. They wrote to the chief minister of Jizhou, suggesting that they take advantage of the weakening of the Han Dynasty's military strength in the Central Plains. , took the opportunity to launch an uprising. On the one hand, the chief minister of Jizhou criticized the Taiping Dao adventures of all parties, and on the other hand, he wrote to Ma Yuanyi and Tang Zhou people in Kyoto to step up contact with the palace officials, and to obey orders at any time, and launch beheadings on the palace. It seems that the Taiping Dao We can't wait any longer, the uprising is right around the corner.
But at this time, the officials of the Han court did not know that an earth-shaking was about to happen, and they were still troubled by the rising Taishan thief.
After the offensive in March, the Taishan Army did not continue the offensive, but chose to lie dormant.
At that time, Yang Xu, the commander of the three counties in the south of Taishan County, immediately saw that the Taishan bandits were probably going to take a defensive posture, so he sent a letter to Chen Gui of Jibei Kingdom and said in the letter:
"Previously, the thieves broke into Bo County from Fenggao. Liang Fu seemed to be aggressive, but in fact he still defended according to the danger. Our army had sent out many gates and divided into many roads, so the thieves defeated them one by one. It is better to use strong Be brave and have powerful troops to guard the pass of Mengshan Mountain to prevent thieves from appearing and plundering. They will be trapped without food and salt. Later, the soldiers will focus on Fenggao and can wipe them out with one drum."
Yang Xu's advice to Chen Gui was spot-on, pointing out that the biggest advantage of the Han Dynasty and the Taishan bandits was not war, but the material gap. Now that the Taishan bandits obviously planned to occupy the southeastern part of Taishan County, they would take this opportunity to defend various areas. The key points, and then cut off their food and salt. When the time comes, the thieves are starved of food and power, and then send troops to directly attack Fenggao, the thieves' nest, and the thieves can be defeated in one fell swoop. It can be said that this suggestion is quite sophisticated. It does not become an important point based on one battle victory, but He carried out a long-term siege and took advantage of the Han court's greatest advantage, which can be said to be a mature strategy for the country.
But Chen Gui could no longer receive the letter from Yang Xu to Chen Gui, because he died of illness not long after he was sent to Sheqiu, and the whole city was in a state of silence.
Before his death, Chen Gui dragged his sick body and tremblingly wrote a memorandum of apology to Liu Hong, in which he wrote:
"Four thousand brave men from the Jibei Kingdom were gathered to go south to suppress the bandits. They fought in March and were killed in one fell swoop. All because Fu was trying to show off his bravery and was greedy for merit. As a result, the overall situation was set back and it was difficult to recover."
Then, he described the bloody battle that took place east of Wenshui on March 3rd:
"On the 13th, Li Chen, the lieutenant of the Lieutenant Colonel under his command, fought with the bandits to the east of Wenshui River and northwest of Bo County. In this battle, our soldiers and the bandit generals fought in front of the formation. They were defeated three times in three formations. All units were depressed, especially the two Sheqiu soldiers in the front. Bai Xian was defeated. When we went out to the battle, hearing about these unfaithful and unfilial people, we hurriedly urged two hundred soldiers to rush forward with swords in hand to supervise them to charge back. However, they had already lost their courage, were as timid as chickens, and were all like chickens with their feet bound. None of the sheep moved. Li Chen, the lieutenant of the Central Military Academy, slashed two people, raised his bow and shot two people with arrows, but there was no answer. At that time, I stood out from the crowd, inspired the conscience of the whole army, and said: "Han thieves are not alike" Stand, today I am the only one without him.' The soldiers were so excited that they turned around to fight. However, something unexpected happened and it suddenly rained heavily. Our soldiers were unable to fight anymore. When they were retreating in front of the formation, they were taken advantage of by thieves and retreated back to the camp. I also Attacked by thieves, the success will be defeated."
Here he slightly beautified and reconstructed the course of the war, because this is not the point. The point is that Chen Gui took all the responsibility for the war on himself.
On the one hand, this can calm the anger of many powerful rightists in Jibei Kingdom. In the battle of March, the essence of Jibei Kingdom was exhausted, and many clothes were covered with dust. If Chen Gui does not take this responsibility on himself, who can shoulder this responsibility?
More importantly, on the other hand, Chen Gui has to think about his descendants. After he returned to Sheqiu, he knew that he was not going to die soon. Now that he, a dying man, has taken all the responsibility for the defeat, how many people need to take over the responsibility?
Of course, Chen Gui cannot use his kindness, but his son Chen Deng can. Deng'er is already twenty-one years old. If he wants to be promoted as filial and honest, it will be in the past few years. With these kindness, Deng'er can
My son will also have a lot of success in the officialdom later on.
Moreover, Chen Gui knew the nature of Liu Hong, who was very honorable to his old ministers. Although he lost troops and generals in suppressing the rebellion this time, he died in a hard-fought battle, and the country would most likely support his son. This was Chen Gui's plan.
But in order to make this matter real, Chen Gui wrote his own theory on pacifying thieves in the memorial. The image of a loyal minister who was loyal to the country and died on the paper emerged vividly on the paper.
Don't blame Chen Gui for acting even when he's dying. In this officialdom, no one can tell how much of it is acting and how much of it is true. When you always have to show others a mask, you often need to wear a mask when telling the truth.
Let’s talk about it. At that time, who will still think that the mask is not the real face?
At least Chen Gui didn't realize that he was a fake person, because the theory he wrote in the memorial to combat thieves was indeed written sincerely, and he did his best to suppress thieves later.
The strategy he proposed in his treatise coincided with what Yang Xu wrote to him, but it was more systematic:
"The Taishan thieves are cunning and not afraid of death, and they can defend themselves according to their shape. This is not the time to fight in a hurry. You must be persevering and prudent, and work step by step. As soon as the thieves are hungry, they can succeed in one go. I summarize the key to suppressing thieves in three words:
'Block', 'Sit', 'Fight'."
After that, Chen Gui summarized the combat characteristics of the Taishan bandits. They approached the enemy in a hundred miles and moved in a blink of an eye. Because they provided enough food to the enemy, they relied on fighting to support the war. He believed that to defeat these rogue bandits, they must block their movement in all directions and eliminate them.
Soldiers, supplies of food and fodder. Then there is sitting. Sitting is to give each war zone a commander-in-chief, who is responsible for the defense of this side. The commander-in-chief must be cautious and cannot waste the battle in pursuit of speed. As long as the thieves come, attack them and lure them away;
Go to the food road and disperse the gang of thieves. This is a sitting battle. And the final step is to fight. When the Taishan thieves are trapped and exhausted, and their fighting strength is greatly reduced, the main forces of the northern and southern armies will be gathered to attack Fenggao directly. This will be done once and for all.
It can be said that Chen Gui was indeed the most capable minister of the Han Dynasty. Although he was anxious about using troops at the beginning and lost his troops and destroyed his army, the main reason was not that Chen Gui was not capable, but that Zhang Chong was too strong and the Taishan army was too strong.
The Taishan Army was originally a bandit that should not exist. If you ask the Han Dynasty to think about it, you can't figure out how there could be a bandit who organized the bandit with a master of economics, and how to select only warriors who are good at fighting to form an army.
The most outrageous thing is that the leader of the thieves learned the art of war from where? Is he really as talented as Han Xin?
But putting aside the factors of the Taishan Army, Chen Gui is worthy of the level of a capable minister of the Han Dynasty. His tactics can be said to be the standard tactics for suppressing the bandits. For example, Yang Sichang in the late Ming Dynasty used the "Four Positives and Six Corners" method to suppress the bandits.
The bunker warfare used by Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese invaders were all derived from this method of warfare.
But this tactic failed in the end. Why? It’s all because this strategy has too many prerequisites, including blocking, sitting, and finally fighting. If any of them fails, the strategy will fail. And the biggest failure is here.
It's this blockade. When trying to catch a turtle in an urn, will the turtle still run around desperately? When the Taishan Army is desperate and hungry, they will definitely fight to the death to break through. Then it will be up to the Han Court to see if it can block it.
But what about this old Taoist Chen Gui?
He also wrote about this situation in his strategy for pacifying the thieves. He said that the key to this strategy was that the Taishan thieves would move due to lack of food, and the three newly defeated Han soldiers were unable to stop them. Moreover, the three sides were far apart, and the battle lines were unclear.
If the army is long and the troops are insufficient, it will be easier for the Taishan bandits to break out.
Therefore, he wrote in the policy:
"Taishan thieves have been entrenched in the northeastern part of Taishan County for more than half a year. They have harvested a batch of autumn grain, and the food is not in danger. The method of sitting in trouble will only be effective in three months. At that time, the thieves have looted all the corn, and they must flee to eat. The exit is from three sides.
To the east is the direction of Qingzhou, and generals must guard Tailu Pass and Yishan Pass. To the south is Xuzhou, and generals must guard Nimeng Pass to prevent thieves from going south to Xuzhou for food. To the north is Yanzhou, and this Mapingchuan is the most difficult to defend, so it is necessary to use
The Wubao beacons are connected together. When thieves come, they light the beacons and then block them. Once the thieves come out of their nests to plunder, all the armies can immediately attack, cut off the food, grass, salt and medicine, and trap them. This is a sure-win method.
"
Immediately after the writing was completed, Chen Gui also died at the temple in Sheqiu County.
Afterwards, all the officials in the county office burst into tears, because they saw Chen Gui, worthy of being a descendant of the Han family, who truly dedicated himself to death. This was such a great scene. It is indeed difficult to rejuvenate a country.
It is only through profligacy that you will know your loyal ministers.
Everyone saw Chen Gui with a yellow scarf on his head and a withered face. He was so thin that he could no longer look like a human being. But before he died, the brush in his hand fell to the ground and he leaned back on the couch with a peaceful expression.
These are really loyal ministers of the Han family. It is precisely because of these loyal ministers from generation to generation that our great Han Dynasty has not lost its moral destiny. They believe that it will be the same this time. The Taishan bandits are no more than clowns and victory will definitely belong to the Han court.
Finally, on the one hand, the agency officials wrote to the Chen family in Xuzhou to ask their son to come to Sheqiu for mourning, and on the other hand, they sent Chen Gui's final notes to Kyoto in a sealed envelope in the name of all the chiefs of the agencies in the country.
Who can say that the Prime Minister's policy of countering thieves is not the collective wisdom of many Cao chiefs in Jibei Kingdom? It's not too much to sign your name.
In this way, this memorial, written by Chen Gui but representing the collective wisdom of all the officials in Jibei Kingdom, was rushed to Kyoto through Jishui.
Later, all the officials gathered Chen Gui and put it into a good coffin. Then the chief minister of the country, Cheng, and the new head of the Kong family personally carried the coffin and sent it to the ice cellar in the county. The formal funeral ceremony still had to wait.
It didn't start until Chen's people arrived.
The meritorious officer must be here to carry the coffin, because after the death of the Prime Minister of Jibei, according to the Han family system, he was the one to take charge of the affairs of the country, and he was not allowed to carry the coffin for the old chief.
Along the way, all the officials thought of Chen Gui's voice and smile, and they all sighed:
"He is really a good prime minister and a good chief official. He has shouldered the responsibility by himself and shared his merits with others. He is a true elder."
After sending Chen Gui away, the Cao Temples in Jibei Kingdom still worked in Sheqiu on the advice of the meritorious officials, because there were too many things in the future that needed to be solved on the spot. This defeat was just a matter of compensation, merit, and mourning.
We have to keep them so busy that they won't have the energy to move the shogunate of Jibei Prime Minister again.
However, the officials were busy and deliberately forgot about Liu Yan, who died in the battle on the east bank of Wenshui River, and his five hundred soldiers.