# Chen Qingzhi

Chen Qingzhi (Chinese: 陈庆之; pinyin: Chēn Qìngzhī; 484 - c.November 539), courtesy name Ziyun (Chinese: 子云; pinyin: Zīyūn), posthumous name Wu (武), was a prominent general of the Liang dynasty. He is best known for his campaign in 528 to 529 to crush Northern Wei. With an alleged force of only 7,000 soldiers, he invaded Northern Wei and conquered the regions of Henan and Shandong. However, he lost them again after being counterattacked by a Wei force ten times larger. Despite this, his success in conquering Northern China, albeit briefly, with (allegedly) only 7,000 soldiers made him a famous commander in Chinese history.

## Background and pre-northern campaign

Chen Qingzhi was from Guoshan County in Yixing Commandery. He joined Emperor Wu of Liang when he was still young. Emperor Wu enjoyed playing weiqi, often doing so from night till dawn. While most of his attendants have fallen asleep, Chen stayed up throughout the night, responding immediately whenever Emperor Wu wanted to have a game; this earned Emperor Wu's admiration.
On 22 February 525, Northern Wei's Inspector of Xu Province Yuan Faseng (Chinese: 元法僧; pinyin: Yuán Făsēng) revolted and requested to surrender to Liang. Emperor Wu sent Chen, along with Hu Longya (Chinese: 胡龙牙; pinyin: Hú Lóngyá) and Cheng Jingjun (Chinese: 成景儁; pinyin: Chéng Jĭngjùn) to assist Yuan. After this assignment, he was given an army of 2000 and ordered to escort Prince of Yuzhang Xiao Zong (萧综) to Xu Province. Northern Wei sent Prince of Anfeng Yuan Yanming (元延明) and Prince of Linhuai Yuan Yu (元彧) along with an army of 20000 against the Liang army. Yuan Yanming ordered his subordinate Qiu Daqian (Chinese: 丘大千; pinyin: Qīu Dàqiān) to establish fortifications at Xunliang (浔梁); Chen attacked Qiu while the fortification were still weak, and routed Qiu's army within a single round of drums. Later, on 23 July, as Northern Wei troops surrounded Pengcheng (彭城), Xiao Zong surrendered to Northern Wei, and Liang troops deserted en masse. While the other generals could not stop their troops from deserting, Chen managed to lead his troops in an orderly retreat.

## Campaign against Northern Wei

On 31 October 528, Chen Qingzhi, with only 7,000 troops, invaded Northern Wei, to make Yuan Hao, emperor of Northern Wei. In c.May 529, at Liangguo, Chen's 7,000 men defeated Qiu Daqian's Northern Wei army of 70,000 men in a battle that lasted half a day, and Qiu Daqian surrendered. Chen then attacked Kaocheng, held by Yuan Huiye with 20,000 Northern Wei imperial guards. The city fell and Yuan was captured.
Next, Chen attacked Xingyang, but was unable to take it because of its strong garrison of 70,000 troops. A Northern Wei army of 300,000 under Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Tumo'er was arriving soon to relieve Xingyang, so Chen rallied his men with a speech:
"Ever since we entered Wei territory, we have been capturing land, slaughtering many people in the cities we took. You have killed many peoples' fathers and brothers, and taken many people's children as slaves. Yuan Tianmu's soldiers are all our bitter enemies now. We have only 7,000 men, but the barbarians have over 300,000. Today, the only way for us to survive against the odds is to resolve to fight and die. The barbarians have too many cavalry for us to handle, so we cannot engage them on the plain. We should take advantage of their not having arrived yet, and attack Xingyang with all we've got, capture it, and then hold out. Let's not hesitate. It's time to take some heads!"
Chen then led his troops to storm the walls of Xingyang, capturing it at last. However, more than 500 Liang soldiers were killed or injured. Before long, Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Tumo'er arrived with their 300,000 troops, straight from Ji'nan (in Shandong). They surrounded Xingyang, but Chen led 3,000 cavalries out and smashed them (against odds of 100 to 1). Next, Chen moved west and attacked the Hulao Pass, and the Wei commanding general Erzhu Shilong abandoned the Pass and fled. Luoyang was left open to attack by Chen, and the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Ziyou abandoned the city and fled across the Yellow River to Henei. Chen was thus able to enter the capital city with his army and set Yuan Hao up as the new Northern Wei emperor.
Unfortunately, Yuan Hao did not wish to remain a puppet of the Liang dynasty and refused Chen's request for more elite Liang reinforcements. To prevent Chen from getting reinforcements behind his back, he even wrote to Xiao Yan claiming that the situation was under control and that it would be unwise to send more Liang occupation troops in, in case it aroused more resentment among the people of the captured Northern Wei cities. Xiao Yan thus halted the movement of reinforcements from the Liang-Wei border. To make matters worse, Chen's soldiers committed abuses and atrocities on the people of Luoyang, losing all local support, while Yuan Hao also proved an inept and self-indulgent ruler.
Within less than two months of Yuan Hao's entry into Luoyang, the Northern Wei loyalist counterattack succeeded despite fierce resistance from Chen's army, and Yuan Hao fled from the city. Chen led his troops on an orderly retreat, pursued by Erzhu Rong. But his army was caught in a flash flood at the Mount Song River (outside Luoyang), and almost completely destroyed - most of the troops either died or deserted. Chen himself escaped back to the south after shaving his head and disguising himself as a monk. Despite the overall failure of the campaign, upon Chen's return to Jiankang, Emperor Wu still rewarded Chen by making him General of the Right Guard and Marquis of Yongxing County, with a fiefdom of 1500 households.

## Modern research

Modern historians believe that the numbers of soldiers that the Chinese tradition states are exaggerated. New research concludes that Chen merely defeated Yuan's vanguard of 5,000 barbarian horsemen led by Erzhu Tumo'er, and another vanguard of 9,000 men led by Lu An.
Yuan Tianmu's 300,000 men never arrived at Xinyang. Luoyang, the capital of Northern Wei, was taken by Yuan Hao rather than Chen. Yuan Hao wasn't a puppet of Chen and probably had a bigger army. Yuan Tianmu debated with his staff and court dignitaries on whether to take Luoyang back right away, or to follow the fleeing Wei emperor north which he went with.
There was no mention of Xingyang. Two months later, Northern Wei's paramount general, Erzhu Rong, came back with a large force to retake Luoyang. Chen was of course unable to stop that. The story of 3,000 versus 300,000 was in the Book of Liang, the official history of the Liang dynasty written by Yao Cha and his son Yao Silian (both former Chen officials) during the later Sui-Tang era. Records from Wei's side (Book of Wei written during the Northern Qi era) did not mention the same battle.

## Post-northern campaign

On 9 April 535, Chen, as Inspector of Sizhou, attacked Eastern Wei. His battles with Eastern Wei's Inspector of Yuzhou Yao Xiong (尧雄) were disadvantageous, and Chen retreated.
On c.9 December 536, Eastern Wei sent Hou Jing, along with 70000 men, to raid Chuzhou (楚州), killing its inspector (刺史) Huan He (桓和). Hou then wrote a letter to Chen, advising him to surrender. While Emperor Wu sent troops to reinforce Chen, by the time the reinforcements reached Lijiang (黎浆), Chen had already defeated Hou. As it was during winter, Hou abandoned his army's supplies during his retreat, and these supplies were recovered by Chen's troops. Earlier in the same year, there was a famine in Yuzhou (豫州); Chen allowed the populace to take supplies from the official granaries. About 800 locals, led by Li Sheng (李升), wrote a petition to Emperor Wu, requesting that a stele be erected to commemorate Chen's deeds; Emperor Wu agreed.

## Personality and attributes

Chen was recorded to be unable to shoot an arrow with great force, and was not skilled with riding a horse. However, he treated his troops kindly, and was able to secure their undying allegiance.

## Relatives

Chen was recorded to have at least six sons, but only his eldest (Chen Zhao (Chinese: 陈昭; pinyin: Chēn Zhāo), who inherited his peerage), fifth (Chen Xin (Chinese: 陈昕; pinyin: Chēn Xīn); 516? - 548) and youngest son (Chen Xuan (Chinese: 陈暄; pinyin: Chēn Xuān)) were named. In Chen Xuan's biography in History of the Southern Dynasties, a son of his elder brother, Chen Xiu (Chinese: 陈秀; pinyin: Chēn Xiù), was mentioned.

## Popular culture

Chen Qingzhi is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI by Koei.

## Sources

* ↑ Chen Qingzhi's biography in vol.32 of Book of Liang indicate that he was 56 (by East Asian reckoning) when he died in the 10th month of the 5th year of the Da'tong era of Xiao Yan's reign; the month corresponds to 28 Oct to 25 Nov 539 in the Julian calendar.
* ↑ (陈庆之字子云，义兴国山人也。) Nan Shi, vol.61
* ↑ (谥曰武。) Nan Shi, vol.61
* ↑ (幼而随从高祖。) Liang Shu, vol.32. It is likely (but not certain) that Chen was under Xiao Yan when he was still a Southern Qi general; Chen was 18 when Xiao Yan crowned himself emperor in April 502.
* ↑ (高祖性好棋，每从夜达旦不辍，等辈皆倦寐，惟庆之不寝，闻呼即至，甚见亲赏。) Liang Shu, vol.32
* ↑ This date is per the biography of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei in Book of Wei; the volume also gave its version of events surrounding Yuan Faseng's surrender to Liang; this account did not mention Chen Qingzhi, but did mention Hu Longya and Cheng Jingjun. (孝昌元年春正月庚申，徐州刺史元法僧据城反，害行台高谅，自称宋王，号年天启，遣其子景仲归于萧衍。衍遣其将胡龙牙、成景隽、元略等率众赴彭城。诏秘书监安乐王鉴回师以讨之，鉴于彭城南击元略，大破之，尽俘其众，既而不备，为法僧所败。衍遣其豫章王综入守彭城，法僧拥其僚属、守令、兵戍及郭邑士女万馀口南入。诏镇军将军、临淮王彧，尚书李宪为都督，卫将军、国子祭酒、安丰王延明为东道行台，复仪同三司李崇官爵，为东道大都督，俱讨徐州。) Wei Shu, vol.09. Chen Qingzhi's biography in Liang Shu only stated that Yuan's revolt occurred during the Pu'tong era (520-527). Vol.150 of Zizhi Tongjian did mention Chen Qingzhi in its account of events surrounding Yuan's revolt.
* ↑ ([孝昌元年]六月癸未，....诸将逼彭城，萧综夜潜出降，萧衍诸将奔退，众军追蹑，免者十一二.) Wei Shu, vol.09. Vol.150 of Zizhi Tongjian dated Xiao Zong's surrender to the geng'chen day of that month, which corresponds to 20 Jul 525 in the Julian calendar.
* ↑ (普通中，魏徐州刺史元法僧于彭城求入内附，以庆之为武威将军，与胡龙牙、成景儁率诸军应接。还，除宣猛将军、文德主帅，仍率军二千，送豫章王综入镇徐州。魏遣安豊王元延明、临淮王元彧率众二万来拒，屯据陟□。延明先遣其别将丘大千筑垒浔梁，观兵近境。庆之进薄其垒，一鼓便溃。后豫章王弃军奔魏，众皆溃散，诸将莫能制止。庆之乃斩关夜退，军士得全。) Liang Shu, vol.32. (将佐士卒死没者什七八，唯陈庆之帅所部得还。) Zizhi Tongjian, vol.150.
* ↑ ([大通二年]冬十月丁亥，以魏北海王元颢为魏主，遣东宫直阁将军陈庆之卫送还北。) Liang Shu, vol.03. The biography of Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei in Book of Wei recorded that Yuan Hao was made a pretender to the Northern Wei throne by Xiao Yan and invaded in the 10th month of the 1st year of the Yong'an era; the month corresponds to 29 Oct to 26 Nov 528 in the Julian calendar. ([永安元年十月]萧衍以北海王颢为魏主，号年孝基，入据南兖之铚城。) Wei Shu, vol.10.
* ↑ Vol.153 of Zizhi Tongjian dated this battle to the 4th month of the 1st year of the Zhong Da'tong era; the month corresponds to 24 Apr to 23 May 529 in the Julian calendar.
* ↑ (魏丘大千有众七万，分筑九城以拒之。庆之攻之，自旦至申，拔其三垒，大千请降。) Zizhi Tongjian, vol.153
* ↑ (“吾至此以来，屠城略地，实为不少；君等杀人父兄，略人子女，又为无算。天穆之众，并是仇雠。我等才有七千，虏众三十馀万，今日之事，义不图存。吾以虏骑不可争力平原，及未尽至前，须平其城垒，诸君无假狐疑，自贻屠脍。”) Liang Shu, vol.32
* ↑ Yuan Hao himself would be killed in flight by Jiang Feng (江丰), with his head reaching Luoyang on 13 Aug 529. (北海王颢自轘辕南出至临颖，从骑分散，临颖县卒江丰斩之；[中大通元年闰月]癸酉，傅首洛阳。) Zizhi Tongjian, vol.153. Emperor Xiaozhuang's biography in Book of Wei dated Yuan's death to the same day, but with the month and year recorded as the 7th month of the 2nd year of the Yong'an era. ([永安二年七月]癸酉，临颍县卒江丰斩元颢，传首京师。) Wei Shu, vol.10. However, Emperor Wu's biography in Book of Liang and History of the Southern Dynasties recorded that it was Erzhu Rong who killed Yuan Hao on 19 Aug 529. ([中大通元年闰月]己卯，魏尔朱荣攻杀元颢，复据洛阳。) Liang Shu, vol.03; ([中大通元年闰月]己卯，魏将尔朱荣攻杀元颢，京师反正。 ) Nan Shi, vol.07.
* ↑ (至都，仍以功除右卫将军，封永兴县侯，邑一千五百户。) Liang Shu, vol.32. Chen's biography in History of the Southern Dynasties did not mention that he was given a fiefdom. (至都，仍以功除右卫将军，封永兴侯。 ) Nan Shi, vol.61.
* ↑ ([大同元年二月]戊戌，司州刺史陈庆之伐东魏，与豫州刺史尧雄战，不利而还。) Zizhi Tongjian, vol.157. Emperor Xiaojing's biography in Book of Wei gave the same date, but recorded the year as the 2nd year of the Tian'ping era. ([天平二年]二月...戊戌，萧衍司州刺史陈庆之寇豫州，刺史尧雄击走之。) Wei Shu, vol.12.
* ↑ ([天平三年]冬十有一月戊申，...侯景攻克萧衍楚州，获刺史桓和。) Wei Shu, vol.12 (biography of Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei). Volume 157 of Zizhi Tongjian dated Hou's raid on Chuzhou to the yi'hai day of the 10th month of the 2nd year of the Da'tong era, which corresponds to 6 Nov 536 in the Julian calendar. ([大同二年]冬，十月，乙亥，诏大举伐东魏。东魏侯景将兵七万寇楚州，虏刺史桓和；进军淮上，南、北司二州刺史陈庆之击破之，景弃辎重走。)
* ↑ The 2nd year of the Da'tong era corresponds to 8 Feb 536 to 26 Jan 537 in the Julian calendar.
* ↑ (大同二年，魏遣将侯景率众七万寇楚州，刺史桓和陷没，景仍进军淮上，贻庆之书使降。敕遣湘潭侯退、右卫夏侯夔等赴援，军至黎浆，庆之已击破景。时大寒雪，景弃辎重走，庆之收之以归。进号仁威将军。是岁，豫州饥，庆之开仓赈给，多所全济。州民李升等八百人表请树碑颂德，诏许焉。) Liang Shu, vol.32
* ↑ The same expression (射不穿札) was also used to describe Du Yu in Book of Jin.
* ↑ (射不穿札，马非所便，而善抚军士，能得其死力。) Liang Shu, vol.32 & Nan Shi, vol.61.
* ↑ Chen Xin's biography in Book of Liang recorded that he was 12 (by East Asian reckoning) when he followed his father to Luoyang during the northern campaign (529), and that he was 33 (by East Asian reckoning) when he was killed by Hou Jing in 548. (十二随父入洛，....太清二年，....，遂为景所害，时年三十三。) Liang Shu, vol.32. Thus, Chen Xin's birth year was either 516 or 518. His biography in Nan Shi did not mention his age when he died.
* ↑ Chen Xuan only had a biography in vol.61 of Nan Shi, although he was mentioned sparsely in Book of Chen.
* Book of Liang.