User:Zrnstnsr/Second War of Liang's Succession
| Second War of Liang's Succession | |||||||
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| Part of Northern and Southern Dynasties | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Liang dynasty | Northern Qi | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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First phase: Wang Sengbian  Chen Baxian Second phase: Chen Baxian Hou Andu Zhou Wenyu |
First phase: Gao Huan Xiao Gui Second phase: Wang Sengbian † Xu Sihui † Xiao Gui  | ||||||
The second war of Liang's succession was a military conflict fought between Liang dynasty and Northern Qi over the succession to Emperor Yuan of Liang, who was killed during the battle of Jiangling. Northern Qi had his prisoner of war, Xiao Yuanming, succeed the throne while Emperor Yuan's generals claimed Xiao Fangzhi as the king of Liang. The succession war culminated with the victory of Xiao Fangzhi's faction, who expelled Northern Qi's offensive and deposed Xiao Yuanming.
Background
[edit]After the battle of Jiangling, Emperor Yuan of Liang was executed and Western Wei established a vassal state at Jiangling before retreating back. The reinforcement troops led by Wang Sengbian departured from Jiankang, which is too far from Jiangling to arrive in time. By the time the emperor was killed, they had just reached Xunyang(尋陽). Knowing the emperor's death, Wang elected Xiao Fangzhi, the ninth son of Emperor Yuan, as the next emperor. Xiao Fangzhi was then enthroned on March 10.
Northern Qi, the rival of Western Wei in Northern China, had also reinforced Liang during the battle. Its reinforcement had just reached Yiyang(義陽, present-day Xinyang) by January 555. In order to gain interests from the corrupted dynasty, Qi troops continued to march and annex Ying Province(郢州, present-day southern Hubei and western Hunan). Xiao Yuanming, who had been imprisoned at Pengcheng, was selected as the puppet emperor and confered as Prince of Liang on February 26.
First phase (Feb–Jul 555)
[edit]After Qi made Xiao Yuanming claim the throne, Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi ordered Gao Huan(高渙), Prince of Shangdang to lead troops escort him back to Liang. The emperor then knew Wang Sengbian had enthroned a new emperor, and sent a letter to persuade him to surrender twice, and Wang refused for both times.
Qi troops then started its invasion, and its offensive made fast progress within weeks. On March 31, Qi captured Qiao Prefecture(譙郡, present-day Chaohu), and on April 12 it occupied Dongguan(東關, present-day Hanshan County). Roughly the same time, Yu Province(present-day southern Anhui) surrendered to Qi troops, and Qi nearly annexed all terriories north of Yangtze River.
Wang Sengbian was scared by Qi's offensive. He moved his armies to Gushu(姑孰, present-day Dangtu) trying to guard the River, but in fact he was planning to accept Xiao Yuanming to claim the throne. After negotiations, Xiao Yuanming was able to cross the River on June 26 at Caishi. The condition is that Liang must give allegiance to Northern Qi, and that Xiao Fangzhi must be installed as the crown prince. Xiao Yuanming requested Wang three thousands guards, but Wang doubted him and only gave him one thousand loose soldiers. After Xiao Yuanming crossed the River, Qi troops also returned back, but Wang also doubted Qi and his ships didn't accompany Qi's ships to the west shore. Xiao Fangzhi was abdicated and Xiao Yuanming was enthroned formally on July 1.
Just after Qi annexed Ying Province, Murong Yan(慕容儼) was installed as the govenor on February 19. It was not long before Wang Sengbian's general Hou Chen(侯瑱) began to siege the capital. By the time Xiao Yuanming claimed the throne, Hou was still unable to capture the city and had to lift the siege as the emperor ordered. Northern Qi also retroceded Ying Province and recalled Murong.
Second phase(Oct 555–Jul 556)
[edit]Chen Baxian's mutiny
[edit]During the first invasion of Liang, Chen Baxian had persuaded Wang Sengbian not to surrender four times, but Wang rejected his opinion. He was indignant at Wang's decision to surrender, and claimed to his confidants: "Emperor Wu had many sons, of which only Emperor Yuan was willing to suppress the rebellion. His son was innocent and there's no reason to depose him. Wang Sengbian and I were both entrusted to take care of the previous emperor's sons, but now Wang changes his aim and even connects with foreign states! I wonder what he's going to do." And he began to prepare robes, silk, gold and silver for award secretly.
After Xiao Yuanming's enthronement, Chen was arranged to guard Jingkou(京口, present-day Zhenjiang). Wang's son Wang Yi(王顗) expostulated him numerous times but his father didn't follow. Right at this moment Wang was told that Qi was gathering troops at Shouchun, so Chen was asked to consolidate his army, and Chen was able to remain at Jingkou for days. On October 25, he gathered his generals Hou Andu, Zhou Wenyu(周文育), Xu Du(徐度) and Du Leng(杜稜) to discuss the rebellion. Du Leng doubt him, and was thus suffocated uncouscious and locked in a back room. Chen ordered Hou and Xu to command navy and Chen himself commanded land forces. The two forces advanced to Stone City in the night, but since it was told that Qi troops are gathering, the march was not suspicious.
Two days later, On October 27, Hou reached Stone City, but Chen's troops march so slowly that he was late. Hou was annoyed at Chen's slow march and scolded: "We've already been rebels and you must determine fast now! If we defeated, we'd all die! You wouldn't be spared from decapitation just because you're at the rear, would you?" and Chen started to advance. Hou's ships arrived to the north of Stone City, before his troops moved ashore. The north of Stone City was next to a hill, so its wall was not so precipitous, and his troops entered the city easily. Chen's troops also came in through the south gate soon after. Wang Sengbian was just about to see what happened, when he was attacked by soldiers. His guards struggled bitterly, and he was forced to the south gate tower. Chen was about to set fire under the tower, when Wang surrendered to him. Chen said to him: "Why are you so defenseless?" and Wang replied: "I've installed you at the north gate, how can I be defenseless?". On the night of this day, Wang and his sons were strangled to death.
On October 29, Xiao Yuanming was deposed, and Xiao Fangzhi was restored two days later.
Xu Sihui's rebellion
[edit]After Wang Sengbian's death, Chen Baxian sent a letter to Northern Qi, claiming that Wang had planned to rebel and that the statement of allegiance still worked. In return, Qi didn't attack Chen at once. On the other hand, the Three Wu district(present-day Yangtze Delta), whose govenors are Wang's confidants, revolted immediately. The rebels besieged Chen's family at Wuxing(吳興, present-day Huzhou), but Chen Qian managed to defend the offensive. On November 23, Chen Baxian departured Jiankang, leading his armies to suppress the revolts.
However, Xu Sihui(徐嗣徽), the nephew of Wang Sengbian, who was the govenor of Qiao Province(譙州, present-day Chuzhou) at that time, seized the chance that Chen had left. Along with Ren Yue(任約), who had surrendered to Northern Qi, he crossed the River and seized Stone City. Hou Andu, the guard general of Jiankang, ordered to close the gates and forbid anyone to go out. Xu thought Jiankang was weak and decided to attack on the next day, but they was raided on the day and suffered a major defeat. Northern Qi also took action to coordinate Xu and Ren. On December 1, Qi troops crossed the River and captured Gushu, giving them supplies through Yangtze and Qinhuai River.
By December 555, Chen had suppressed the revolt at Yixing(義興, present-day Yixing) and Wei Zai(韋載), one of the rebel leaders, surrendered to Chen. He advised Chen to reuse forts built by Hou Jing and block the supply passage of Qi troops, which Chen followed. Hou Andu also launched offensive actively, burning Qi's transport ships and raiding near districts. On January 4, 556, he even crossed the River to raid Qin Commendary(秦郡, present-day Liuhe District), where Xu's house was located. Hou sent a pipa and an eagle to Xu, and said, "I've got these from your house the last day, and return to you now." As a result, Xu was scared.
Although Chen had cut off the supply to Stone City, Jiankang had been weak since Hou Jing's rebellion and couldn't support a long war. So a truce was achieved, and Xu and Ren fled north to Qi with Qi troops.
Final invasion
[edit]By February 556, Chen had suppressed all the revolts in the Three Wu district. But he still had to wipe out warlords in the country. He appointed Zhou Wenyu to attack Hou Zhen at Jiangxia first, but just after Zhou's warships had passed Xunyang, Qi gathered troops again and approached Liang Mountain(梁山, a hill located at present-day Dangtu) on April 18. Qi's troops were led by Xiao Gui(蕭軌) and joined with Xu Sihui's armies. Chen immediately ordered Zhou's troops to return back, and he went to Liang Mountain himself to reassure his troops. Qi troops then moved to Wuhu and waited for chance.
To stall Chen, Qi claimed that if Chen released Xiao Yuanming, its troop would retreat, and Chen was willing to send Xiao back. However, Xiao died of back carbuncle on June 2. The next day, Qi troops crossed the River and left Xu's troops at Wuhu to block Zhou's reinforcement. By June 20, Qi troops had crossed the Qinhuai River and approached Jiankang, and Zhou's troops had also reached Wuhu. Xu tried to intercept Zhou, but was defeated. Xu then discarded Wuhu and advanced to Danyang(丹陽, in present-day Ma'anshan), aiming to join with Qi troops.
On the other hand, Qi passed Zhong Mountain on June 23 and reached Mufu Mountain(幕府山) on June 26, where their supplies were cut off and the troops were trapped. On July 1, Qi troops arrived on the northwest of Xuanwu Lake and occupied Beijiao Temple(北郊壇), joint with Xu's troops. Chen's troops were gathered on Fuzhou Mountain(覆舟山) and the north of the Temple, besieging Qi's troops. During those days, it was raining all the day and Qi's troops had to live in mud due to their low altitude. The fingers and toes of Qi soldiers festered, and they had to hang their pots to cook. Although Chen troops occupied beneficial terrain, they also suffered lack of supplies due to low population in Jiankang. On July 3, the rain stopped and Chen decided to initiate the final offensive. Before the attack, Chen bought grain and meat for his soldier from Chen Qian.
On the morning of July 4, Chen initiated his attack along with his generals Wu Mingche and Shen Tai(沈泰) from all directions, with Hou Andu attacking from the rear. The exhausted and weak Qi's troops collapsed shortly after the combat began. Thousands of Qi soldiers were beheaded, and more died of trampling on one another. Xu Sihui was killed during the combat, and Xiao Gui was captured and executed five days later. The other troops at Zhong Mountain and Qinhuai River also won a victory. The escaped Qi soldiers fled to Yangtze River, only to be drown mid in the River, and their corpse blocked the shore of Jingkou.
Aftermath
[edit]Shortly after the war, in August 556, Hou Zhen surrendered to Chen Baxian. On April 29, Chen defeated Xiao Bo(蕭勃), the governor of Guang Province(廣州, roughly present-day southern Guangdong), who was killed in action. By then, he had basically unified the country except Wang Lin, and he was enthroned on November 12 and established Chen dynasty, the final dynasty of the southern dynasties.
However, the southern dynasties lost all territories north of Yangtze River, which was another major decline of the dynasties and Chen Baxian didn't recover. Although the dynasty temporaily recovered Huainan in 573, it was quickly lost in 577. This showed that the southern dynasty continued to decline, and would be conquered inevitably in decades.