The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

Wei Rui's family has been a famous family in the Sanfu area for generations since Wei Xian, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty.

Wei Rui's grandfather Wei Xuan, in order to avoid being an official, lived in seclusion in Nanshan, Chang'an, and refused the call of the Grand Commandant Liu Yu.

His uncle, Wei Zuzheng, served as Guanglu Xun in the late Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties;

His father, Wei Zugui, served as the chief secretary of General Ningyuan.

Wei Rui served his stepmother since he was young and was well-known for his filial piety.

His uncle Wei Zuzheng was appointed as the governor of a county many times. Every time he went on a trip, Wei Zuzheng always took Wei Rui with him and treated him as his own son.

"Wei Rui's brother-in-law Wang Xian and his aunt's brother Du Yun were both very famous in their hometown. Wei Zuzheng once asked Wei Rui about this."

"How do you think you compare to Wang Xian and Du Yun? Wei Rui was too modest to answer."

"Your writing may be a little inferior, but your knowledge should be said to be superior to theirs."

"But when it comes to serving the country and achieving great things, no one can compare to you."

"Wei Rui's cousin Du Youwen is the governor of Liangzhou and invited him to go with him."

"Liangzhou is a rich place, and most officials who go there fall into trouble because of taking bribes. Although Wei Rui is young, he is famous for his integrity."

"In the first year of Yongguang, Yuan Yan served as the governor of Yongzhou."

"After meeting Wei Rui, Yuan Yan thought he was extraordinary and summoned him to serve as the chief clerk of the state."

"After Yuan Yan arrived at the prefecture, he and Deng Wan raised an army to oppose Emperor Ming of Song. Wei Rui requested to go out and serve in Yicheng County, thus avoiding disaster."

"After being promoted several times, he served as the governor of Qixing County, the deputy governor of Yongzhou, the lieutenant of Changshui, and the general of the right army."

"During the last years of the Southern Qi Dynasty, there were many disturbances in the imperial court. I wanted to return to my hometown, so I requested to be appointed as the governor of Shangyong County."

"Between the first and second years of the Yongyuan period, Taiwei Chen Xianda and Hujun General Cui Huijing successively rose up in rebellion against the rule of Xiao Baojuan, the Eastern Hun Marquis."

"They repeatedly approached Jiankang with heavy troops, and the people in Jiankang were terrified and no one turned their backs."

"The people of Yongzhou discussed the future with Wei Rui. Wei Rui said that although Chen Xianda was an old general, he was not a man of great potential;"

"Choi Hye-kyung is very experienced, but she is too cowardly to fight."

“The only person in the world who can accomplish great things may appear in our state.”

"So he sent his two sons to contact Xiao Yan, who was then the governor of Yongzhou."

"When Xiao Yan raised his army and the announcement was received, Wei Rui led the people of the county to cut bamboo and build rafts, and rushed to join the army. There were a total of 2,000 people and 200 horses."

"Xiao Yan was very happy to see Wei Rui. He stroked the table and said, "I saw your face the day before yesterday, and I see your heart today. My great cause can be accomplished."

"The Xitai army conquered Ying, Lu and other places, and pacified Jiahu. Wei Rui made many strategies during this period, all of which were adopted by Xiao Yan."

"When Xiao Yan personally led the main force out of Yingzhou, he considered arranging a general to stay behind, but it was difficult to find a candidate."

"He was in a dilemma for a long time, and suddenly he remembered what Wei Rui said about abandoning a good horse without riding it, so he hurried to find it."

"That same day, Wei Rui was appointed governor of Jiangxia Prefecture to manage the affairs of Yingzhou."

"Back then, when the Yingzhou City guards resisted Xiao Yan, there were nearly 100,000 men and women in the city. They stayed behind closed doors for a year, and 70 to 80 percent of them died of the plague."

"Everyone piled the bodies under their beds, and the living people slept on top of them. Every room was filled with dead bodies."

"After Wei Rui took office, he set about clearing the bodies and providing relief to the people. He arranged these matters properly, and the people were able to live in peace thanks to him."

"In February of the second year of the Zhongxing reign, Xiao Yan was conferred the title of Prime Minister and Duke of Liang, and established the Bafu Palace. Wei Rui was summoned to the court to serve as the Minister of the Dali Temple."

"In April, Xiao Yan ascended the throne and established the Southern Liang regime."

"After the establishment of Southern Liang, Wei Rui was appointed as the Minister of Justice and given the title of Duliangzi."

"In the second year of Tianjian, he was granted the title of Prince of Yongchang County, and then Governor of Yuzhou and concurrently Governor of Liyang County."

"In the third year of Tianjian, the Northern Wei sent troops to attack Yuzhou, and Wei Rui led the state troops to repel them."

"In the fourth year of Tianjian, Xiao Yan issued an edict to march north and sent Wei Rui to lead the army."

"Wei Rui sent his chief secretary Wang Chaozong and Liangjun governor Feng Daogen to attack the Northern Wei's Xiaoxian City, but they were defeated in the first battle and failed to achieve victory."

"Once, Wei Rui led his troops to patrol outside the Wei army's city defense fence. Suddenly, hundreds of people came out of the city and formed a battle array outside the gate. Wei Rui wanted to attack them."

"All the generals said that we all came here lightly, please go back and put on your armor and fight again."

Su Shi: There are more than 2,000 Wei soldiers in the city. As long as they close the gates and hold on, they will be able to save the city.

Now they are being driven out for no reason. They must be some brave men. If we can defeat them, the city will fall without a fight.

Everyone was still hesitant, Wei Rui pointed at his scepter and said.

The court granted me this thing not for decoration, and Wei Rui's decree must not be violated.

So he led his troops to attack, and the Wei army was defeated. Wei Rui took advantage of the situation to intensify the siege, and on the second night, Xiaoxian City was captured. He immediately marched towards Hefei.

Prior to this, the Right Army Sima Hu Jinglue marched into Hefei but was unable to capture it after a long siege.

After Wei Rui arrived, he inspected the surrounding mountains and rivers and said, "I heard that the Fen River can irrigate Pingyang, just like here."

He then built a weir on the Feishui River, and soon the weir was completed and water flowed through, and warships arrived one after another.

At the beginning, the Wei army built two small cities, east and west, to sandwich Hefei. Wei Rui attacked these two cities first.

Soon, Northern Wei reinforcements led by Yang Lingyin arrived with 50,000 troops. Everyone was afraid that they could not resist, so they asked Wei Rui to request reinforcements.

Wei Rui said that the enemy troops had already arrived at the city, and it would be too late to ask for reinforcements, let alone us asking for help.

They will also increase their troops. The key to victory in an army lies in unity, which has been a truth since ancient times.

So they went against Yang Lingyin's troops and defeated them, which slightly stabilized the morale of the army.

At the beginning, after the Feishui dike was built, Wei Rui sent the officer Wang Huaijing to build a city on the shore for guarding. The Wei army captured the city and took advantage of the victory to attack Wei Rui's dike.

Military Supervisor Pan Lingyou advised Wei Rui to retreat to Chaohu, and the generals requested to retreat and save the three righteousnesses.

So he ordered his umbrellas, fans, flags and other ceremonial objects to be brought out and placed under the dike to show that he had no intention of retreating.

Wei Rui had always been in poor health. He never rode a horse in battle and always led the army in a cart.

When the Wei soldiers came to break the dike, Wei Rui personally led his troops to fight with them. The Wei army retreated slightly, and Wei Rui built a fortification beside the dike to guard it.

He also built warships that were almost as tall as the walls of Hefei and attacked the Wei army from all sides.

When Hefei City fell, Wei Rui captured more than 10,000 Wei soldiers. He did not take any of the spoils, but gave them all as rewards to the soldiers.

At first, Hu Jinglue and Zhao Zuyue, a former soldier, fought together but had a bad relationship and framed each other.

Hu Jinglue was furious and bit his teeth so hard that they were broken and blood flowed all over his mouth.

Wei Rui believed that the discord between the general and the commander would lead to disaster, so he personally poured wine to persuade Hu Jinglue.

Hopefully, the two generals will stop fighting over personal issues, so this battle can be peaceful.

Wei Rui received guests and handled military affairs during the day and handled military documents at night. He got up at three o'clock in the morning and lit the lamps until dawn.

He did his best to appease his troops, often acting as if he was not doing enough, so those who wanted to join the army flocked to him.

Wherever he went, the barracks were in good order, and the buildings and fortifications were all in standard. After the capture of Hefei, Xiao Yan ordered his troops to station in Dongling, which was only 20 miles away from the Northern Wei's Yancheng.

When the battle was about to begin, Xiao Yan issued an edict ordering all the troops to return.

Wei Rui considered that the Southern Liang army was too close to the Wei army and was worried about being followed and attacked.

So he ordered the baggage train to be the vanguard, and he himself sat in a small cart as the rear guard. The people of Wei were frightened by his reputation and just watched from afar, not daring to approach.

The army was able to retreat intact, and from then on the capital of Yuzhou was moved to Hefei.

"In the fifth year of Tianjian, Yuan Ying, the King of Zhongshan in the Northern Wei Dynasty, attacked Northern Xuzhou and besieged Chang Yizhi, the governor of Northern Xuzhou, in Zhongli."

"The Wei army was said to have a million soldiers stationed in more than 40 cities. Xiao Yan sent General Cao Jingzong to lead an army of 200,000 to fight back."

"Cao Jingzong's garrison first stationed at Daorenzhou, but he ignored Xiao Yan's words and attacked on his own to compete for merit, resulting in many casualties."

"Xiao Yan immediately issued an edict, ordering Wei Rui to come to the court for an audience, bestowing him with a dragon-ringed imperial sword, and saying that any general who disobeyed his orders would be executed."

"Wei Rui went straight across the Yinling Lake from Hefei, and whenever he encountered a mountain stream or a canyon, he would immediately build a bridge to cross it."

"Everyone was afraid of the strength of the Wei army, and urged Wei Rui to slow down. Wei Rui said that Zhongli was in such a critical situation that he had to dig a cave to live in and carry a door to fetch water."

"If you drive quickly, you'll be afraid you'll be late, let alone if you drive slowly!"

"We will reach the frontline within ten days and join forces with Cao Jingzong to station troops in Shaoyangzhou."

"At the beginning, Xiao Yan warned Jingzong that Wei Rui is a popular figure in your hometown, and you should respect him well."

"Cao Jingzong was very respectful when he saw Wei Rui. When Xiao Yan heard this, he said that if the two generals were in harmony, the army would surely win the battle."

"Wei Rui dug a long trench overnight 20 miles in front of Jingzong's camp, and placed deer horns on it to cut off the river island to form a city defense. The camp was built before dawn."

"Yuan Ying was shocked and knocked at it with a stick, saying how could it be so fast!"

"Cao Jingzong was afraid that the people in Zhongli City would be frightened by the crisis, so he recruited soldiers to bring imperial orders into the city and let them defend the city."

"The soldiers reached the East City by diving from the bottom of the river."

"The city defense was getting harder and harder. Only then did they know that reinforcements were coming, and everyone became more courageous."

"Wei General Yang Dayan led more than 10,000 cavalrymen to fight, and was invincible."

"Wei Rui linked the vehicles together to form a formation, and Yang Dayan gathered the cavalry to surround them."

"Wei Rui commanded 2,000 powerful crossbows to fire simultaneously, piercing the armor of the Wei army, killing and wounding many, and one arrow pierced Yang Dayan's right arm, forcing him to retreat."

"The next morning, Yuan Ying personally led his troops to fight. Wei Rui sat in a white wooden cart, holding a white-horned Ruyi to command the army. They fought several times a day. Yuan Ying was quite afraid of his tenacity."

"The Wei army attacked the city again at night, and arrows rained down."

"Wei Rui's son Wei An asked him to go down to the city to avoid the arrows, but he refused."

"The army was in panic, and only after Wei Rui shouted sternly from the city walls did they calm down."

"The Wei people had previously built two bridges on both sides of Shaoyang Island and erected fences several hundred steps long to block the Huai River."

"Wei Rui built a large ship and ordered Liangjun Governor Feng Daogen, Lujiang Governor Pei Sui, Qinjun Governor Li Wenzhao and others to serve as the navy."

"When the Huai River flooded, Wei Rui immediately sent them out to fight. All the warships were launched at once and approached the Wei army camp."

"The Liang army also loaded small boats with grass, filled them with kerosene, and launched them to burn the Wei army's bridges."

"The wind was strong and the fire was fierce. The brave soldiers pulled out the wooden fences and cut down the bridge. The water was also fast. In a blink of an eye, the bridge and the fences were completely destroyed."

"Dougan and his men fought in person, the soldiers fought bravely, their shouts shook the earth, and every one of them was as good as a hundred."

"The Wei army was defeated, and Yuan Ying escaped."

"More than 100,000 Wei soldiers drowned while trying to escape, and as many were killed. The rest, 50,000, took off their armor and kowtowed to be captured."

"Wei Rui sent someone to inform Chang Yizhi. Chang Yizhi was so overwhelmed with joy and sorrow that he didn't bother to answer. He just kept shouting, "He's alive again! He's alive again!" Xiao Yan sent the secretary Zhou She to the Huai River to comfort the troops.

Li Yu: Wei Rui piled up the seized materials at the military gate. After Zhou She saw them, he said to Wei Rui that the general's seized materials were as high as Xiong'er Mountain. Wei Rui was promoted to marquis for his merits.

In the seventh year of Tianjian, Wei Rui was changed to General of the Left Guard, and soon became Chief Clerk of General Anxi and Prefect of Nanjun, with an additional rank of two thousand stones.

At this time, the governor of Sizhou, Ma Xianlin, was returning from the north and was pursued by the Wei people, causing panic among the people in the three passes.

The court ordered Wei Rui to lead the army to reinforce. When Wei Rui arrived in Anlu, he raised the city wall to more than 20 feet, dug a large ditch, and built a tall watchtower.

Everyone laughed at him for being timid, but Wei Rui said that was not true, and a general should be timid sometimes.

At this time, Yuan Ying pursued Ma Xianlin again, trying to avenge the shame of his defeat in the Battle of Zhongli. He withdrew his troops only after hearing that Wei Rui had arrived. Xiao Yan also issued an edict to disband his troops.

In the eighth year of Tianjian, Wei Rui was promoted to General Qianxinwu and Governor of Jiangzhou.

The following year, Wei Rui was summoned to the court and appointed as Yuanwai Sanqi Changshi and Youwei General.

He was promoted to General of the Left Guard and Prince's Secretary, and soon after was promoted to Palace Attendant.

In the 13th year of Tianjian, Wei Rui was appointed as the Yin of Danyang, but was later dismissed due to official affairs.

The following year, he was appointed Governor of Yongzhou.

At first, when Wei Rui started an uprising in his hometown, a guest named Yin Shuangguang cried and tried to dissuade him.

When Wei Rui returned home in glory to serve as the governor of Yongzhou, Yin Shuangguang greeted him on the roadside.

Wei Rui smiled and said to him, "If I had listened to you, I would probably have to beg for food on the road," but he still rewarded him with ten oxen.

Wei Rui was never stingy with his old friends. He often appointed officials over the age of 70 as magistrates of the county. His hometown people were very grateful to him.

In the 15th year of Tianjian, Wei Rui submitted a petition requesting to resign, but the court issued an edict denying his request as a token of preferential treatment.

He was summoned to the capital and appointed as a guard. He was given a drum and trumpet corps and was on duty in the palace.

Wei Rui treated people in the court with respect and never glared at anyone. Xiao Yan also respected him very much.

Wei Rui was kind by nature, and he raised his brother's orphan more attentively than his own son. All the rewards he received from his official duties were distributed to his relatives and friends, and there was no surplus money left at home.

Later, he served as a military guard. He had nothing to do at home and admired the characters of Shi Jian and Lu Jia of the Han Dynasty, so he painted their portraits on the wall for his own appreciation.

Although he was old at that time, he still taught his children and grandchildren to read when he had free time.

His third son, Wei Leng, was particularly well-versed in classics and history, and was praised by people of his time for his erudition.

Wei Rui often sat and let Wei Leng explain the contents of the book. Sometimes Wei Leng could not catch up with Wei Rui's discoveries and explanations in the book.

Xiao Yan was obsessed with Buddhism at that time, and people all over the world were also infected by this custom.

Wei Rui thought he was a man of few desires and a simple life, and as he was a high minister, he was unwilling to follow the crowd, so he acted just as he usually did.

In the first year of the Common Era, Wei Rui was promoted to the position of Shizhong and General of Chariots and Cavalry.

Before he was officially appointed as an official, he died of illness at home on August 23 at the age of 79.

The will stated that the body should be buried simply and dressed in traditional clothes.

Xiao Yan came to pay his respects in person that day, weeping bitterly, and posthumously awarded him the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry, and the title of Grand Master of the Imperial Court, and the posthumous name of Yan. (End of this chapter)