Xie An

Xie An (謝 安) (320–385) was a Wenjing Duke of Luling (廬陵 文靖 公) and statesman during the Jin Dynasty (265–420).

The Battle of Feishui

Xie An installed his nephew Xie Xuan as general for the area between the Huai and Yangtze Rivers. In order to strengthen the army of the central government, he recruited troops from among the inhabitants of this area as well as among the refugees who were particularly interested in defending against the north. With this he created the Beifu Army ( 北 府 軍  /  北 府 军 , Bĕifŭ Jūn ), which later became the main army of the Jin and the southern dynasties.

As early as when the Emperor of the Former Qin Fu Jian ( 苻 堅  /  苻 坚 , Fú Jiān ) had destroyed the Former Yan in 370, he was planning an attack on the Eastern Jin to unite China. In 378 he captured Hubei and tried to take Xuzhou , but was repulsed. 382 his troops were able to pacify the western hinterland. In August of the following year, Fu Jian believed that the time was ripe for an attack on the south. He mobilized the entire military in the country and moved south. The news of Fu Jian's march came as a shock to the Eastern Jin. Xie An tried to calm the situation, gave Xie Shi ( 謝 石  /  谢 石 , Xiè Shí ) the command of the main forces and used Xie Xuan as the commander of the vanguard to fend off Fu Jian. At that time Fu Jian had a troop of 600,000 men, while the Jin Beifu army numbered only 80,000 soldiers.

Fu Jian sent General Zhu Xu ( 朱 序 , Zhū ​​Xù ), who had just surrendered to him, to Xie Shi to get him to surrender as well. However, Zhu Xu revealed to Xie Shi the strengths and weaknesses of the Qin Army and worked with him to develop a strategy to defend against Fu Jian's army. In November 383, the two armies met on the Fei River ( 淝 水 , Féishuĭ ) in what is now Anhui Province. Xie Shi had his troops burying standards in the tall grass everywhere to make his army appear larger in number to prevent an attack by Fu Jian. In December, Xie asked Xuan Fu Jian to step back a little so that the Army of the South could cross the river and fight a decisive battle. Fu Jian agreed. However, the retreat was disorderly, and the Jin generals, who had previously surrendered, spread to the back of Fu Jian's troops that the battle was lost and that the army was therefore in retreat. The entire Qin order of battle began to shake even before contact with the enemy was made. The Jin vanguard seized the opportunity and attacked. The Qin Army suffered a total defeat. Fu Jian was injured by an arrow. This battle was of paramount importance in the history of the Eastern Jin.

After the battle, Xie An became the commander in chief of the military and took on the task of conquering the now-crumbling Former Qin. In 384 he ordered Xie Xuan to campaign north. In order to better guarantee the supply this time, a canal was built. This expedition was able to recapture all areas north of the Yellow River. The Jin Army was also able to regain the lost Sichuan . While Xie Xuan made preparations for further expeditions north of the Yellow River, the envy of his successes smoldered at court. The then Minister of State Sima Daozi ( 司 馬道子  /  司 马道子 , Sīmǎ Dàozĭ ) ordered Xie Xuan to abandon the preparations because he believed that the army had overstretched its capacities. This prevented further campaigns to the north.

The fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty

After successfully defending against the threat from the north, the Jin dynasty returned to its usual inner turmoil. The successful minister Xie An ( 谢 安 ), whose brother had commanded the army in the Battle of Feishui, was suspected by the emperor and sent into exile. The power struggles between different blocs and families degenerated into civil wars. Various local princes had de facto withdrawn from the central government and were now only nominally subservient to the central government. Even the tax revenues in their areas were no longer passed on to the central government, so that ultimately the entire state expenditure was based on revenues from a total of only eight prefectures, which corresponded to today's provinces of Jiangsu south of the Yantsekiang and Zhejiang . The tax burden and labor burden for the population were enormous. There were reports from the time that people mutilated themselves in order to be freed from forced labor.

In the spring of 402 , one of these prefects rebelled and occupied the capital. He was proclaimed Emperor of Chu. A year or two later, he was beaten by another Prefect Liu Yu (刘裕). Liu had the Jin imperial house rebuilt, but controlled the entire government and the emperor himself. Finally, in 420 , Liu saw his government sufficiently consolidated. He deposed the last Jin Emperor and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Former Song Dynasty .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ This is not the same Fu Jian as in the Northern Expeditions section. For details, see Earlier Qin
2. ↑ To clarify the number of his soldiers, the Jin Shu speaks of the fact that it would interrupt the Yangtze River if all of Fu Jian's soldiers were to hit the river with their riding whips ( 投 鞭 斷流  /  投 鞭 断流 , tóu biān duàn liú ) .
3. ↑ Jin Shu, Zaiji 14, Record of Fu Jian the Former Qin, Part Two
4. ↑ Jin Shu, Liezhuan 49, Annals of Xie Shang and Others.