In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos; the masses rose up together to chase the deer in the Central Plains. The Thirty-Six Anti-Kings jointly promoted Li Mi as an ally, with the title of Duke of Wei, and rebelled against the tyrannical Sui. The Wagang army under the leadership of Li Mi had 300,000 troops, and not only occupied luo and Li granaries, but also famous generals such as Shan Xiongxin, Wang Bodang, Qin Qiong, and Xu Shixun, and had the potential to win the world.
Li Mi began to indulge in arrogance, wrongly killed Zhai Rang, and defected to Yang Tong, eventually causing the rebellion and alienation of the people, sending people to the fence, and ending up with a rebellion and being killed.
Li Mi (582 – 619 CE), courtesy name XuanXuan, was a native of Chang'an County, Jingzhao, and a great-grandson of the famous Western Wei general Li Bi. He first served as the governor of Zuo Qinwei Province, the Eastern Palace Qianniu Prepared, then followed Yang Xuangan's rebellion, then ran to the Wagang army, and finally surrendered to Tang, plotting rebellion and being killed.
Li Mi was born into the Guanlong nobility, his great-grandfather was Li Bi (李弼), one of the Eight Pillar States of Western Wei, his grandfather Li Yao (李耀) was the Northern Zhou Taibao (北周太保) and the Duke of Xinguo (刑国公), and his father Li Kuan (李宽) was the Duke of Sui Shangzhu (隋上柱国) and the Duke of Pushan Commandery (蒲山郡公).
Born with a golden key, Li Mi did not indulge in the rich and noble nest, but was diligent in reading and practicing martial arts, becoming a literary and martial arts all-rounder. Li Mi was good at reading military books, especially good at planning, and was often deeply involved in the art of war and could not extricate himself.
When the Sui Dynasty Emperor ascended the throne, Li Mimeng's father served as the governor of the Imperial Guard Province and the Eastern Palace Qianniu Prepared. Once, when the Sui Emperor was traveling, he accidentally found Li Mi on duty among the guards, and was greatly surprised, so he turned back to Yuwen Shu beside him and asked, "Who is the black-faced child in the guards?" ”
Yuwen Replied, "He is the son of the late Duke Li Kuan of Pushan, and his name is Li Mi. The Sui Emperor said, "This child Gu Pan's demeanor is extraordinary, don't let him serve as a bodyguard in the palace." Li Mi was fired and had to go home.
Li Mi, who had lost his job, began to concentrate on reading and often enjoyed it. People often see Li Mi riding a bull, hanging a book on the horn, while holding a rope with his hand, and flipping through the book with his hand.
Shang Shu's right servant Yang Su was very surprised when he saw it, thinking that this son must have great achievements, so he asked his son Yang Xuangan to associate with Li Mi in the hope of getting a return.
In the ninth year of Daye, the Sui Emperor made the second eastern expedition to Goguryeo. At this time, due to the tyranny of the official government, the peasant revolt of Wang Bo from Liaodong had spread to the entire Sui Dynasty, and riots were raging everywhere.
Yang Xuangan, the son of Yang Su, who served as the chief military officer who supervised grain and grass and the duke of Yueguo, seized the opportunity to secretly raise an army against Sui in Liyang. Yang Xuangan secretly sent someone to Chang'an to pick up his friend Li Mi to preside over the plot.
Li Mi had nothing to do with his job at this time, and he had great ambitions and decided to let go and help his friend to rebel against Sui. According to the situation in the world at that time and the position of Yang Xuangan, he proposed three countermeasures:
The first was the best strategy, leading the army north from Liyang to occupy Youzhou, relying on geographical advantages to block the sui emperor's return route to goguryeo in the east, causing the Sui army to break through grain outside guanxi and collapse itself.
The second is the middle strategy, the westward march into Tongguan to occupy Chang'an, the defense of Guanzhong to confront the Sui Dynasty, and then seize the world.
The third was to take the eastern capital Luoyang nearby and directly overthrow the rule of the Sui Dynasty.
After listening to the three strategies, Yang Xuangan said: "The next strategy you said is the best strategy." Now that the families of the courtiers are in Luoyang, how can they influence the people of the world if they do not capture it? Li Mi's best strategy was not adopted in the end.
Sure enough, Luoyang City was tall and strong, and it could not be attacked for a long time, and Yang Xuangan's rebellion was finally put down. Li Mi also had to disguise himself and flee, hiding his name and living in exile.
In the twelfth year of Daye, Zhai Rang launched an anti-Sui uprising in Dong County, and used Weicheng Wagang Zhai as a base, known as the "Wagang Army". 李密决心投奔翟让，把瓦岗寨作为自己的立足之地。
At this time, Xingyang Tongshou Zhang Sutuo led an army to attack the Wagang army, and the coming force was very fierce. Zhai Rang had been defeated by Zhang Sutuo many times before, and this time he was ready to flee. Li Mi stopped him and said, "Zhang Sutuo has courage and strategy, and he can use his wisdom to win, and I will help you defeat him." ”
Li Mi led a thousand-man team to ambush in the woods, and when Zhai let him fight and retreat, Li Mi led his army to kill and block Zhang Sutuo's retreat. In the end, Li Mi and Zhai Rang attacked back and forth, killing Zhang Sutuo.
After this battle, Li Mi suggested to Zhai Rang: "If there is chaos today, you should not be satisfied with mobile combat and hide in Tibet. Instead, we should go with the trend, seize Xingluocang, and distribute it to the hungry people, so as to win the hearts and minds of the people, and then win the world. ”
Zhai Rang followed the plan, marched north from Yangcheng, raided Xingluocang, distributed grain to the hungry people, won the hearts of the people, and there was an endless stream of converts from all over the country, nearly 100,000 people.
Yang Tong, the King of Yue, sent Hu Benlang to lead Liu Changgong with 25,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Li Mi, but was defeated by Li Mi who lured the enemy deeper and defeated him, and the entire army was destroyed.
Under Li Mi's advice, the Wagang army gradually developed and grew, and rebels from all over the country returned one after another, and the power grew to 300,000 people. The Old Book of Tang records that from the east to Hai and Dai, and to the south to Jiang and Huai Counties, mo did not send envoys to return to the secret.
At this time, Li Mi's prestige in the Wagang army had far exceeded that of Zhai Rang, and Zhai Rang knew that his ability and prestige were inferior to Li Mi's, so he gave up his position to Li Mi and elected Li Mi as the lord of the Wagang Army. Under the advice of Zhai Rang and others, Li Mi proclaimed himself the Duke of Wei and was a general of the Great Seal, and gradually won the hearts and minds of the people.
Zhai Rang's subordinate Wang Ruxin (王儒信) encouraged Zhai Rang to become the head of Ōtsuka Zai and the commander-in-chief of hundreds of officials in order to seize Li Mi's power. Zhai Rang's brother Zhai Kuan also said: "The position of emperor was originally from our Zhai family, how can we give it to others?" ”
After Li Mi learned about this incident, he began to have plans to get rid of Zhai Rang. One day, Zhai Rang brought people to Li Mi's place to drink and have fun as before, and Li Mi arranged a banquet to entertain them.
During the banquet, Li Mi took out a good bow and asked Zhai Rang to appreciate it, and Zhai Rang had just pulled the bow full, and was beheaded from behind by Li Mi's cronies. At the same time, Li Mi sent people to kill his brother Zhai Kuan and the general Wang Ruxin, and surrendered Xu Shixun, Shan Xiongxin, and Wang Bodang.
Since then, Li Mi has gained absolute leadership of the Wagang Army, but cracks have also begun to appear within the Wagang Army, and its strength has been severely damaged.
Under the leadership of Li Mi, the Wagang army defeated Wang Shichong, Yang Wei, Wang Wei, and Huo Ju successively, and then conquered the Hao Division, built jin yong city, and tunza an army of 300,000. Dongdu stayed behind to defend Weijin and was captured alive in the battle with Li Mi, and the Sui Dynasty master Zuo Yuwen Kai defected to Dongdu to surrender to Li Mi.
Dou Jiande, Zhu Cang, Yang Shilin, Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang, Lu Zushang, Zhou Fameng, and others all sent people to Li Mi to persuade him to ascend the throne. Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang who had raised an army in Jinyang, also wrote a letter to promote Li Mi as the lord of the world. Li Mi said: "Luoyang cannot talk about this matter until it is pacified. ”
At this time, Li Mi encountered the same choice as Yang Xuangan, and I don't know if he remembered his three strategies of up, down and down? Li Mi did not choose to take Guanzhong in the west and occupy Chang'an, but also chose to die in Luoyang.
The eastern capital Luoyang City was strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was full of elite generals of the Sui Dynasty, which was difficult to conquer for a while. Li Mi led his army to attack several times, but all of them were damaged and returned without success.
During this period, Li Yuan, the Duke of Taiyuan and the Duke of Tang, took advantage of the battle between Li Mi and Wang Shichong to lead his army westward and capture Chang'an and Guanzhong in one fell swoop. Li Yuan made Yang You the Emperor of The Sui Dynasty emperor, changed his name to Yuan Yining, and honored Emperor Sui as Emperor Taishang.
At this moment, Li Mi must have been remorseful after hearing the news, and he fought hard but was picked by others.
While Li Mi was intensifying his attack on Luoyang, Yu Wenhua launched a rebellion at Jiangdu, strangled the Sui Emperor, made Yang Hao the Prince of Qin emperor, and led the Xiaoguo army north to prepare to return to Luoyang.
After the news came, Dongdu remained in the group of retainers to support Yang Tong, the king of Yue, as emperor and changed his name to Emperor Tai. At this time, Wang Shichong was tyrannical and controlled the government, and Yang Tong wanted to use Li Mi's hand to get rid of it, and sent someone to appoint Li Mi as a taiwei, Shang Shuling, and the Duke of Wei, and ordered him to attack Yuwen and Yu.
At this time, Li Mi could have sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, waiting for Yu Wenhua and Wang Shichong to lose both and reap the benefits of the fisherman. However, Li Mi, believing himself to be strong and strong, accepted the canonization and confronted Yu Wenhua.
Yu Wenhua and the Xiaoguo Army under his command were the Janissaries, the elite of the Sui army, and they did not lose the wind at all in the fight with Li Mi's Wagang Army. However, due to the shortage of grain and grass, he was eventually defeated by Li Mi. However, after this battle, Li Mi's Wagang army also suffered heavy losses.
Just as Li Mi and Yu Wenhua were fighting hard, Wang Shichong took the opportunity to eliminate dissidents and monopolize the sui court government in Luoyang. When Li Mi learned of Wang Shichong's monopoly, he refused to enter the imperial court and retreated to Jin Yongcheng.
At this time, Li Mi was proud and complacent, no longer sympathetic to his subordinates, won the battle and did not distribute the spoils of war, and also suspected Zhai Rang's old department, which made the Wagang army begin to deviate from Germany.
After Wang Shichong saw the problem of the Wagang army, he took the opportunity to attack the Wagang army, and the two sides fought at the foot of mount Yao. The exhausted Wagang army was finally defeated, pei renji, Zu Junyan, Cheng Zhijie, and others were captured by Wang Shichong, and Feng Yuanzhen, Shan Xiongxin, and others were dissatisfied with Li Mi for a long time and surrendered to Wang Shichong one after another.
Li Mi fled to Wu prison pass, and Wang Bodang retreated to Heyang. The Wagang Army has disintegrated and will no longer be as powerful as before. Li Mi led the remnants of his army west to flee to Chang'an and defected to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan was greatly surprised, and made Li Mi the Prince of Guangluqing, the Duke of Jin, and also married his cousin Dugu Shi to Li Mi, and directly called him a brother. However, Li Mi was a man who was willing to be subordinated to others, was very dissatisfied with his situation, and strived to make a comeback.
Soon, Li Yuan sent Li Mi to Liyang to appease the old ministry and ask his subordinate Wang Bodang to accompany him. When Li Mi led his troops east to Chou Sang Yi, Li Yuan suddenly repented and recalled him.
Li Mi sensed that something was wrong and could not come out again, so he decided to launch a rebellion. He led an army to conquer Taolin County, plundered livestock into Bears Ears Mountain, and planned to go to Xiangcheng to defect to the old general Zhang Shanxiang.
However, Li Mi's rebellion was learned by the Xiongzhou deputy general Sheng Yanshi (盛彦師), who set up an ambush at Xinggong Da (邢公岘) in Luhun County. Li Mi led his troops through, ambushed the troops, was killed on the spot, and passed the head to Chang'an, when he was 37 years old.