Site of the Battle of Fei River

Site of the Battle of Fei River

The Site of the Battle of Fei River is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Battle of Fei River took place on the Dongji River, north of Feixi County in Hefei. It is close to Shou County in Anhui Province. Also known as the Fei River, it originates from General’s Ridge between Feixi and Shou County. Though sharing the same source, the waters flow in different directions: the branch flowing northwest travels about 200 li before exiting Shou County and entering the Huai River; the one flowing southeast flows into Chaohu Lake. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wei general Zhang Liao once defeated Sun Quan at the Fei River. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie Xuan also defeated Fu Jian at the Fei River. It is a well-known ancient battlefield. In particular, the Battle of Fei River during the Eastern Jin era is one of China’s most famous historical examples of a weaker force triumphing over a stronger one.

In the eighth year of Taiyuan (383), Fu Jian, ruler of the Former Qin, forcibly conscripted people of various ethnicities to form an army of 900,000—boasted as a million—and launched a major southern invasion in an attempt to dominate the south and crush the Eastern Jin. Xie An, the Jin prime minister, dispatched an 80,000-strong army led by Xie Xuan and Xie Shi to confront them in Huainan. Fu Jian sent Zhu Xu, a former Jin general captured at Xiangyang, to persuade the Jin forces to surrender.

Zhu Xu was loyal to the Jin and secretly informed Xie Shi of the Qin army's movements, advising him to take advantage of the Qin forces not yet being fully assembled and swiftly strike their vanguard. Xie Shi accepted the plan and sent Liu Laozhi with five thousand elite troops to cross the Luo Stream. In that battle, ten Qin generals were killed and over ten thousand Qin soldiers were wiped out—the first victory, which greatly boosted the morale of the Jin army. They then advanced both on land and water. Fu Jian and his brother Fu Rong climbed the walls of Shouyang City and saw the well-ordered Jin troops, and when they looked toward Bagong Mountain, they mistook the grass and trees for hidden Jin soldiers (the idiom “every bush and tree looks like an enemy,” or “草木皆兵,” originates here).

He said to Fu Rong, “These are also formidable enemies,” and showed visible signs of fear. Xie Shi pushed the Jin army forward to the Fei River, where Fu Rong set up battle lines across the river. Xie Shi “sent an envoy to say to Fu Rong: ‘If you could withdraw your troops a little, allowing our soldiers to maneuver, I and Your Grace could leisurely watch the battle from horseback—that would be splendid.’” Fu Rong then ordered his army to pull back. Fu Rong had originally planned to attack the Jin forces while they were halfway across the river, but unexpectedly, once his troops began to retreat, they couldn’t be stopped. They fled in panic, losing all fighting spirit. Among them, the former Jin general Zhu Xu, who had been coerced into serving Qin, shouted, “The Qin army is defeated!” Ethnic soldiers who had been forced into service seized the chance to flee, throwing the Qin battle lines into chaos. Fu Rong was thrown from his horse and killed, and the Qin army suffered a crushing defeat.

Xie Shi pursued the retreating forces. The Qin troops, “hearing the wind and crane cries, thought they were the sounds of the Jin army arriving.” On the road, Fu Jian was hit by a stray arrow and fled alone back to northern Huai, in utter disarray. Xie Xuan pressed the advantage and captured Luoyang and Pengcheng, reclaiming large territories. Fu Jian escaped to Guanzhong but was soon killed by his own subordinates.