Chapter 10 The Battle of Feishui(4)

As the leader of Ethnic Group Di, also the kinf of former Qin, Fujian relied heavily on his adviser [5]Wang Meng's advice. He adopted many military and political strategies suggested by him. As a result, the national power of former Qin increased rapidly. In 373 AD, the former Qin conquered the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Liangzhou, now Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province, and Yizhou, now Chengdu in Sichuan Province. It attacked to the north and annexed the Dai State founded by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei people. It expanded to the west and annexed the Former Liang State. He also sent troops to the Western regions, and finally basically realized the unification of northern China. Before Wang Meng's death, he blocked Fu Jian's southerly advance policy and advised Fu Jian not to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, because he believed that although the former Qin was more powerful than the Eastern Jin, it had just unified the North and was not yet integrated and consolidated internally. It was not yet ripe for a southern attack. Although the Eastern Jin was weaker, it was much stronger than some of the breakaway forces it had conquered in the north. Moreover, the Eastern Jin has a natural defense barrier, the Yangtze River, it is difficult to attack but easy to defend. Fu Jian listened to Wang Meng's suggestion, and for the time being, he stopped his plan to quickly unify the country. But seven years after Wang Meng died of illness, Fu Jian believed that the time was ripe and decided to attack the Eastern Jin. [6]