The Four Generals of Zhongxing refer to the generals of the Song Dynasty after the southern crossing of the Song Dynasty, with Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi, and Yue Fei having the most outstanding military achievements, they played a major role in resisting the Jin soldiers and ensuring the establishment and consolidation of the Southern Song Dynasty regime, and were known as the "Four Generals of Zhongxing". There is also a theory that Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Liu Qi, and Yue Fei.
Today we are going to talk about Liu Qi, the general in another way.
Liu Qi (1098-1162, the name of Uncle Xin, Qinzhou Chengji origin), outstanding talent, talent, his extraordinary temperament is pleasing and convincing. Even the emperor praised him and promoted him to his official position. According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", Liu Qi was neck and neck with Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun, and was known as one of the four famous generals in the world. In the Battle of Shunchang, which resisted the siege of the Jin soldiers, he turned passive into active, and successfully repelled hundreds of thousands of troops with 5,000 elite troops, and his heroic achievements will forever be recorded in history.
Liu Qi is the ninth son of Liu Zhongwu, the envoy of the Luchuan Army. He is proficient in the art of war, and is familiar with the five elements of feng shui. After Liu Qi's death, the people worshiped him as a god and respected him very much. In the new town of Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang, there is a Liu Wang Temple dedicated to Liu Qi.
Liu Qi is proficient in the art of archery, and his skills are amazing. In a battle with Liu Zhongwu, he showed his extraordinary skills. At that time, the bucket outside the camp gate was full of water, and Liu Qi shot the bucket with an arrow, and after the arrow was pulled out, the water in the bucket gushed out like a pillar. However, he then fired a second arrow, which just happened to plug the first hole and stop the water from overflowing. During the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Gao Yu recommended him to the imperial court, and Liu Qi was specially awarded to serve as the cabinet minister.
After Song Gaozong ascended the throne, Kuanzheng hired Liu Zhongwu's descendants, and Liu Qi was fortunate to be able to meet the saint. When Gaozong saw Liu Qi, he was amazed that he was an outstanding talent, and he was given the official position of Xuanzan Sheren of the Pavilion Gate, and sent him to serve as the governor of Minzhou, and concurrently served as the protector of Longyou. Liu Qi won many victories in the Western Xia battles and became more and more famous. In Western Xia, there were even mothers who comforted crying children with "Liu Du has protected". When Zhang Jun inspected Shaanxi, he was deeply amazed by his talent and appointed Liu Qi as the envoy of Jingyuan and the governor of Weizhou.
In the tenth year of Shaoxing, the Jin State returned to Sanjing, and Liu Jian served as the deputy guard of Tokyo, in charge of the local soldiers and horses. The eight-character army under his command was only 37,000 people, and before he set out, he added 3,000 palace commanders. These soldiers all brought their families, and the families were to be settled in Shunchang, while the army was to be stationed in Kaifeng, Tokyo. Liu Jian led the troops from Lin'an and went up the Yangtze River, a total of 2,200 miles. When he arrived at the mouth of the vortex, just as the troops were eating, a sudden gale blew his command tent up. Based on this, Liu Jian judged: "This is a bad omen! Speed up the progress of the camp. Sure enough, not long after, Liu Jian received the news that the Jin people had reneged on the alliance and invaded the south, and had captured Tokyo (Kaifeng). Liu Jian had no choice but to abandon the ship with the deputy general, turn to the land route, and rushed to Shunchang City day and night.
The prefect was uneasy, and when he met Liu Qi, he eagerly asked for advice on how to deal with the enemy. After Liu Qi learned about the state of the city's defense, he learned that there was still Wan Hu in the storage grain, and decided to lead the army into the city, and then discuss the strategy of all-out defense. At this time, all the generals in the army said that the golden soldiers were tenacious and unstoppable, and proposed to send troops to escort the old and weak women and children in the city to retreat south. Liu Qi responded: "Although the capital has been lost, fortunately there is still a sound army stationed here, why abandon the city and flee?" If there is anyone who abandons the city again, he should be beheaded by the army. So, the soldiers relied on Liu Qi's temple and piled up a large amount of firewood in front of the temple. Liu Qi told the guards: "If the situation is critical, light firewood and burn my house." At the same time, Liu Qi assigned generals to guard the city gates, strictly check passers-by, recruit spies in the local area, and send scouts to boost morale.
In the past, Thuanchang was a quiet city that had not been fortified during wartime. Liu Qi adapted measures to local conditions, ordered people to put the wheels on the city wall, demolished the gate of the dwellings, surrounded the city wall, and built a sheltered and protected "sheep and horse wall", the deployment process took only six days, and was largely completed. At this time, the Jin soldiers had arrived at the city.
The Jin people deployed an arrow array to attack Shunchang Mansion, but most of the arrows they fired could not pass past the top of the wall, causing substantial damage to the wall. In this case, General Liu Qi in the city selected a sharpshooter, and used a strong crossbow to shoot outward from the city wall or the entrance of the walled gate, and the arrows were not missed, causing a major ** to the enemy. Whenever the Jin army retreated, Liu Qi directed the infantry to launch a pursuit, resulting in a huge number of Jin soldiers dying or drowning.
When the Song army faced the siege of the Jin soldiers, they stubbornly held on, and the Jin soldiers could not attack the city, but were pursued and forced to retreat for twenty miles and camp. During this period, General Liu Qi made clever arrangements and sent Yan Chong to recruit 500 warriors and sneak into the gold camp at night. That night, thunder and lightning were combined, and the Song army took advantage of this day to launch a fierce attack on the braided characteristics of the Jin soldiers, and the Jin soldiers were defeated and retreated for fifteen miles.
In order to further demoralize the Jin soldiers, Liu Qi selected 100 warriors to form a death squad. Ordered people to cut down bamboo, make it into a sound-making toy for children in the market, and let the death squad warriors each carry one. With the help of night cover, the death squad rushed straight to the gold camp. It was pitch black in the gold camp, and whenever lightning flashed, the daredevils took the opportunity to attack vigorously; The lightning vanished, and they remained silent. So repeatedly, the gold camp fell into chaos. With the heroic struggle of the 100-man death squad and the sound of "boom" as a signal, the Jin soldiers were completely defeated. After a night of fierce fighting, the corpses of the golden camp were all over the field, and the golden soldiers were defeated and retreated to Wife Bay.
After learning of this, Jin Wushu, the general of the Jin State, personally led the army to fight against the Song army, stationed in Huaining for a night, prepared war equipment, stored grain and grass, and arrived in Shunchang in only six days. The officers and men of the Song army suggested: "While the Jin army is defeated, we should quickly prepare ships and retreat with the whole army to avoid a head-on confrontation with the Jin Wushu." However, Liu Qi believed: "The enemy camp is relatively close to our army, and the reinforcements of the Golden Vulture are about to arrive. If our army retreats, the Jin soldiers will definitely take advantage of the victory to pursue, and the results achieved by our army will be in vain. ”
Liu Qi then summoned Cao Cheng and the others, and said to them: "Now I have ordered you to be secret agents, and there will be a heavy reward after the matter is completed." As long as you do what I instruct, the golden people will not harm you. After Cao Cheng and the others agreed, Liu Qi taught them a clever plan: "You go out of the city to ride a horse and wander, and when you meet Jin Bing, you deliberately fall off your horse." When the Jin people take you captive, they will interrogate you to find out what I really do. All you have to do is answer: 'He was born in a time of peace and prosperity, and he was keen to listen to songs and dances, and the imperial court wanted peace between the two countries, so he sent him to guard Tokyo and live a life of ease and pleasure. ’”
Cao Cheng and the others followed Liu Kuang's strategy, and Jin Wushu was very pleased with this: "This city is easy to attack!" So, he decided to abandon the goose carts, cannons, and other heavy siege equipment. The next day, Liu Jian climbed the city wall, saw Cao Cheng and the others returning, and immediately hoisted them into the city with ropes. Both were put on torture equipment and a letter was attached. In order to ensure the stability of the army's morale, Liu Jian burned the letter before he could read it carefully.
Jin Wushu then arrived at the Jin camp under the city, and first questioned why Jin Jiang failed to capture Shunchang. The Jin generals replied in unison: "The strength of the Southern Dynasty is no longer comparable to that of the past, and the marshal will know the difference when he personally attacks the city." At this time, Liu Jian sent Geng Xun to ask for battle, and Jin Wushu was furious after hearing this: "What kind of person is Liu Kuang, he dares to challenge Ben Shuai!" With the strength of this commander, capturing the small city of Shunchang defended by Liu Jian is like stepping on the kennel with your feet! Geng Xun responded: "The prince not only asks for a duel with the prince, but also thinks that the prince will not dare to cross the river." Therefore, Taiwei specially prepared five pontoon bridges, and after the prince crossed the river safely, he would have a decisive battle. ”
At dawn the next day, Liu Jian really built five pontoon bridges over the river to facilitate the Jin soldiers to cross the river. However, he sprinkled poison on the upper reaches of the river and in the grass. Liu Jian warned his subordinates: "No matter how thirsty you are, you are not allowed to drink the river water, and anyone who violates the military order will be beheaded." ”
It was a scorching summer day, and the Jin soldiers traveled long distances, and they did not dare to take off their armor and sleep peacefully day and night. Liu's army was able to take turns resting and eating at Yangmayuan. The Jin soldiers were hungry and thirsty, and many soldiers and horses were poisoned by drinking water and eating grass, and their combat effectiveness was greatly damaged.
In view of the cool weather in the early morning, Liu Qi decisively chose to hold still to ensure that the soldiers received sufficient rest. Until about three o'clock in the afternoon, observing that the Jin soldiers were already showing signs of exhaustion, Liu Qi took decisive action and sent part of his troops to raid the enemy from the west gate, and then followed up with thousands of troops to launch a fierce attack from the south gate. During the battle, Liu Qi strictly demanded that the soldiers remain silent and rely only on large axes for effective killing. Although the commanders Zhao Hui and Han Zhi were seriously wounded, they still resolutely refused to leave the battlefield, led the soldiers to fight to the death, and bravely rushed into the golden army. In the fierce battle, swords and swords flew everywhere, and the golden soldiers were finally defeated.
That night, the torrential rain was pouring down, and the water depth of the ground reached more than a foot, and Jin Wushu led the army to retreat north. Liu Qi took the opportunity to send troops to pursue and killed tens of thousands of Jin troops. When the battle was fierce, Jin Wushu wore white robes, drove armored war horses, and personally supervised the battle of 3,000 tooth soldiers, these tooth soldiers were fully armed, only their eyes were exposed, and they were called "Tiefutu". At the same time, the iron cavalry is divided into the left and right sides to outflank the formation of the "kidnapping horse", which is the "long victory army" that the golden vulture is proud of, and is specially used to attack the fortifications. However, in this battle, the invincible "Changsheng Army" of the Golden Vulture was also defeated by Liu Qi, and the battlefield was full of corpses, flesh and blood, and chariots, flags, weapons and armor were scattered everywhere.
After hearing that the victory was won, the emperor was very happy, and awarded Liu Qi as the envoy of the Wutai Army, the guard of the pro-army Ma Jun Si Du Yuhou, the Zhishun Changfu, and the envoy along the Huai system.
To summarize this battle, Liu Qi's troops were only 20,000, and only 5,000 people were actually engaged in battle. In comparison, the Jin army had hundreds of thousands of troops, and the camp stretched fifteen miles from west to north. Every night, the drums of the Golden Camp shook the earth, and the noisy sound in the camp continued all night; The city of Shunchang, where the Song army was stationed, was quiet, and even the chickens and dogs were silent. Liu Qi, a talented man, remained calm in times of crisis, commanded well, guided by wisdom, and fought steadily, which shocked the Jin people and successfully repelled the "Changsheng Army" of the Jin army.
In the past, Ambassador Hong Hao was in the Jin Kingdom and secretly played the matter of Yanjing: "In the battle of Shunchang, the Jin people panicked, and all the treasures in Yanjing were transported north to prepare for the abandonment of the land south of Yanjing." According to this, everyone discussed: if the generals work together and pursue them separately, the Golden Vulture may be captured, and Bianjing is expected to be recovered. However, the Song army retreated hastily and missed a good opportunity, which is regrettable.
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