淝水之戰 The Battle of Feishui
2009年09月03日 14:59






　　The Battle of Feishui

　　In the latter half of the fourth century, Fu Jian, ruler of the Former Qin Dynasty, united the Yellow River Valley area. In the fifth lunar month of 383, Fu Jian led an army of over 800,000 men against Eastern Jin.

　　Facing the attack of Fu Jian's army, the Eastern Jin Dynasty decided to make concerted efforts to fight against the enemy. At that time, leaders of the Jin army were Xie Shi, Xie Xuan and Liu Laozhi. They had an army of only 80,000 men. In the 10th lunar month Fu Jian's army captured Shouyang (today's Shouxian County, Anhui Province). Fu Jian sent Zhu Xu, a Jin general captured by the Former Qin army, to the Jin army, to induce them to capitulate. Seizing the chance of going to the Jin camp, Zhu Xu told Xie Shi that there were only 250,000 Former Qin soldiers in the front, and he suggested the Jin army launch an attack first.

　　In the 11th month, Liu Laozhi attacked the Former Qin army with 5,000 crack soldiers and wiped out 50,000 Former Qin soldiers. Xie Shi and other generals advanced on the crest of the victory and confronted the Former Qin army with each army on one side of the Feishui River. One day, Xie Xuan proposed that it was not convenient for the two belligerent parties to fight on different sides of the river and asked the Former Qin army to draw back. Fu Jian had planned to attack the Jin army when they crossed the river, so he ordered his army to retreat. However, his soldiers did not know the real meaning of the retreat, and many of them thought that they had lost the battle. Just at that time, Zhu Xu shouted loudly, "Fu Jian's army has lost the battle! Fu Jian's army has lost the battle!"This threw the Former Qin soldiers into great confusion at once. The Jin army took advantage of the occasion and crossed the Feishui River. Fu Jian's soldiers fled desperately and Fu Jian himself got wounded by an arrow. At last, Fu Jian returned to Chang'an with only a little more than 100,000 soldiers.

　　This was the famous Battle of Feishui in history, in which a small army defeated a big one. After the Battle of Feishui, the Former Qin Dynasty fell down and north China was again rent by independent regimes.