武仲諸[...]

Page Ten

"The heir is weak and incompetent. Taking Chang'an The capital of the Later Qin dynasty, a major center of power and culture by slow degrees is already within my calculations."

With this, he raided and plundered the various cities north of the mountains. Yao Xing, the King of Qin, sighed and said: "I did not follow the advice of Huang'er original: "黃兒" (Huang'er), the childhood name of Yao Song, Yao Xing's brother, who had warned him of Helian Bobo's treacherous nature, and now it has come to this."

Liu Yu A rising general and future founder of the Song dynasty, known as a brilliant military strategist submitted a memorial to campaign against Southern Yan. In the fourth month, he led a naval force from the Huai River into the Si River. In the fifth month, they reached Xiapi. Leaving the heavy supply train behind, they advanced on foot to Langya. Wherever they passed, they constructed fortifications and left troops behind to guard them.

Someone said to [Liu] Yu: "If the people of Yan block the strategic heights of the Daxian Pass, or if they 'fortify the walls and clear the fields' term: jianbi qingye (堅壁清野) — a scorched-earth strategy where a defender destroys all crops and resources outside the city walls to starve an invading army, our great army will have penetrated too deep. We would not only fail to achieve victory, but we would be unable to return home. What should we do then?"

[Liu] Yu replied: "I have weighed this matter thoroughly. The Xianbei A nomadic people from the northern steppes who ruled the state of Southern Yan are greedy and lack foresight. When advancing, they think only of what they can plunder; when retreating, they are too stingy to part with their own standing crops. They will assume my lone army has penetrated too deep and cannot endure for long. At most, they will advance to occupy Linqu or retreat to defend Guanggu. They will certainly be unable to hold the mountain passes or clear the fields. I can guarantee this to you all."

Murong Chao, the Lord of Southern Yan, summoned his many ministers—