Third, Qiluo fights to save Gao Xianzhi
After Gao Xianzhi conquered Xiao Bolu, he also broke the Cheshi Kingdom, and the captured King Bo Temu of the Cheshi Kingdom made the reputation of the Tang Dynasty and Gao Xianzhi unprecedentedly high in the western regions and Central Asia, and the entire Tocharian, Kabul and Kashmir became vassal states of the Tang Dynasty, and Gao Xianzhi naturally became the Tang Governor of this region. But Gao Xianzhi was a very greedy person, and he also gained a lot of wealth in the war. In order to gain more wealth, in 750 AD, Gao Xianzhi sent troops to conquer the stone country on the grounds that the stone kingdom (located in present-day Uzbekistan) did not have the courtesy of vassals. The king of Shiguo did not dare to make enemies of the Tang Dynasty, so he sent emissaries to surrender to Gao Xianzhi, and also got Gao Xianzhi's consent and promise. But soon Gao Xianzhi broke his promise to attack the Stone Kingdom, captured the King and his men, killed all the old, weak, sick and disabled, and returned to Anxi with the gold and silver treasures of the Stone Kingdom. In this battle, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang conferred on Gao Xianzhi the Right Yu Lin General and beheaded the King of Shiguo for public display.
Formal diagram of the Battle of TheRos
However, in order to take revenge, a fleeing Prince Shi asked for help from The Great Eclipse (that is, the Arab Empire), and Gao Xianzhi decided to preemptively attack after knowing this, and in 751 AD led the combined forces of the Anxi garrison and the Western Regions servant states totaling more than 30,000 people (including 20,000 Tang troops), and the long-distance attack of 700 miles in the control of the Great Eclipse encountered 100,000 troops of the Great Eclipse. The Tang army and Dashi fought for five days without distinction between victory and defeat, but due to the defection of the servants' Ge Luolu cavalry to attack the Tang army from behind, Gao Xianzhi suffered a crushing defeat, losing most of the Tang army, and had to lead the remnants of thousands of people, and the whole situation was very critical. And Gao Xianzhi was not willing to lose, and even thought of attacking Dashi again with thousands of Tang troops, at this time Li Siye came out to persuade Gao Xianzhi: "We have led the large army deep into the enemy territory, and there is no support, and the morale of the big food is strong, and at this time there is no doubt that we will die in battle, but how can we repay the imperial court after we are all killed in battle?" It is better to retreat to Baishiling as a measure. Gao Xianzhi agreed to Li Siye's suggestion and ordered a retreat to Baishiling, but the road was narrow, and Tang Bing could only advance in columns, and soon encountered the Soldiers of Bahan blocking the road, Li Siye held a strange knife and attacked forward, and even the people took horses to slash and kill, killing dozens of hundreds of people, and soon killed the Soldiers of Bahan, the Tang army successfully reached Baishiling, and Gao Xianzhi also retrieved a life. From then on, Gao Xianzhi paid more attention to Li Siye, praising Li Siye's merits, and the imperial court promoted him to the position of Right Kingo General and Envoy of Shule Town, and Li Siye also became a prince of the party.
Battle of The Ross
Fourth, the merits of Xiangji Temple will eventually become a festival
In 755, An Lushan rebelled, and soon captured Luoyang and Chang'an, Tang Xuanzong entered Shu, Tang Suzong succeeded to the throne at Lingwu, and ordered Li Siye to lead the army to serve the king. When Li Siye received the edict, he immediately led his troops to the east, and the counties he passed through did not violate the law, and after coming to Fengxiang, Emperor Suzong of Tang was overjoyed and immediately issued an edict to let Li Siye cooperate with Guo Ziyi and Bugu Huai'en and become each other's horns. Although Li Siye was already a great general, in the war, he still charged in front with a strange knife, and often the rebels who could not be stopped by anyone scattered and fled. Because of his bravery in battle and his repeated military achievements, Tang Suzong promoted Li Siye to the position of soldier and horse envoy of the Four Towns, Isi, and Beiting Xingying Camp, which was only one step away from the Jiedu Envoy. With the arrival of Shuofang, Xiyu, Hexi, and Longyou, the Tang rebel army gradually gained the upper hand over An Lushan, and Tang Suzong launched a campaign to retake Chang'an and Luoyang.
Map of the Chaotic Situation of Anshi
In April 757, Emperor Suzong of Tang, with King Guangping as the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army and Guo Ziyi as the Deputy Marshal of the Terracotta Army, led Li Siye, Bugu Huai'en, Hui Qi, Arabs and other large armies of more than 200,000 to attack Chang'an, and on August 23, the Tang army and the rebel army met at Xiangji Temple northwest of Chang'an, and Li Siye commanded the front army as a forward to the north of Xiangji Temple. The rebel Li Guiren led elite cavalry to attack the Tang army, and once rushed the Tang army's position, the situation was very critical, at this time Li Siye said to Guo Ziyi: "If you don't kill the enemy desperately today, the army of the imperial court may be slaughtered." So he removed his armor, bare-chested with a strange knife and shouted to kill, according to the record, all the rebels who blocked Li Siye, a knife down to the people and horses, killed dozens of people in a row, and finally stabilized the position. Then he led two thousand strange knifemen to rush forward side by side, and the rebels could not stop these elite strange knife armies, and soon they were defeated, and by noon, the Tang army killed more than 60,000 rebels and successfully recaptured Chang'an. In the Battle of Xiangji Temple, Li Siye's merit was the greatest, and Emperor Suzong of Tang enfeoffed him as the Duke of Yuguo and 200 households, and concurrently served as Wei Weiqing, Huaizhou Assassin, and Beiting Xingying Jiedushi. At this point, Li Siye officially completed the gorgeous counterattack from an ordinary strange knife hand to a jiedushi.
Battle of Xiangji Temple
However, since Li Siye was a front-line combat type of general, his life could be in danger at any time during the battle. In 758, Emperor Suzong of Tang ordered Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Li Siye, Wang Sili and other eighteen envoys, a total of more than 600,000 people, to surround An Qingxu in Xiangzhou, because there was no commander, the various princes acted differently, and did not achieve any results in the confrontation for a long time, but Li Siye still actively fought on the front line, and the results achieved were also the richest among the various armies. It may be that Tian's jealous talents, but it is also an accident of inevitability, Li Siye was seriously injured in a battle, there was no way but to lie in the military tent to recuperate, and when the wounds were almost healed, he suddenly heard the sound of the golden drum on the battlefield, knowing that the Tang army was fighting with the rebels again, shouting for the first battle, the wounds collapsed, bleeding and dying. A generation of fierce generals died on the battlefield. After Li Siye's death, he was given the title of Zhongyong and crowned the King of Wuwei County, and Guan Qi's whole life was to fight in front-line battles, never retreating on the battlefield, and this style of fighting was also the main reason for the death of the middle stray arrows. Li Siye worried about the army and the country all his life, leaving no property, and most of the rewards of the imperial court were used on the military, leaving only ten war horses.
Battle of Xiangzhou