One night at the end of May 986, a horseshoe sound sounded in front of Chen Jiagu, and the leader was Yang Ye, deputy commander of the Northern Expedition Of the Northern Song Dynasty, at this time, only more than a hundred people were left behind, and all of them were injured.
Yang Ye and his party rode into the valley, and after looking around, the old general stopped the horse's head, turned back to the soldiers, and asked, "Can you see the soldiers and horses of Pan Shuai or Wang Jianjun?" After inspecting the horses for a week, the pro-soldiers came back and reported: "Returning to the old Linggong, there are no soldiers and horses of my Great Song around, how is this good?" ”
Yang Ye listened, and his hand touched his chest and said sadly: "I was blessed by the official family, and I wanted to kill the enemy in the Northern Expedition, but I was framed by the traitors, and the heavens are going to kill me!" The voice was very sad, and the soldiers behind them all bowed their heads and fell silent, and none of them spoke.
After a while, Yang Ye suddenly turned his head and said to the soldiers, "You have a wife and children, you don't have to die with me, go back to repay the official's family!" But these hundred or so soldiers listened, and none of them left on horseback, but said in unison: "Swear to die and follow Ling Gong!" ”
Yang Ye listened, his face slowed down slightly, and he took the lead in leading the horse first, the direction was exactly the direction they had just come, the Erwolf Village, where there was the rushing sound of thousands of troops and horses, and the Liao general Yelü Xiezheng led more than 10,000 people to pursue him, but at this moment, Yang Ye's eyes were extremely firm, and he seemed to have a determination to die!
That night, Yang Ye led the remaining more than 100 soldiers to fight in front of Chen Jiagu and the Liao army led by Yelü Xieyi, and the result was extremely tragic, and all more than 100 soldiers were killed, including Yang Ye's son Yang Yanyu. Yang Ye himself was seriously injured in more than ten places and insisted on fighting, and after killing dozens of Liao troops, he was thrown to the ground because of the middle arrow of the horse under his crotch, and was surrounded by the Liao army.
After the Liao army captured Yang Ye, the fast horse reported and the commander Yelü diagonally. When Yelü Xieyun learned of this news, he was very happy, and came to Yang Ye's detention center overnight and said to Yang Ye: "The general is brave and brave, if he can submit, the future is immeasurable, far from being compared to the Song Dynasty!" ”
Yang Ye, who was seriously injured, fixed his eyes on this Liao army general, but said in an extremely firm tone: "I am a Song Chen, and I swear to die!" After that, Yang Ye began a hunger strike, and three days later, this dignified general died in the Liao army camp!
Yang Ye led his troops to defeat the Liao army many times, and was known as "Yang Invincible" in the border army, and was often remembered by Empress Xiao Zhuo of the Liao State, and regarded as the great enemy of the Liao State! Therefore, after Yang Ye died of starvation, Yelü Xieyi personally cut off his head and installed it in a wooden box, and quickly sent it to Nanjing to present it to Empress Xiao.
Empress Xiao saw Yang Ye's head rank and laughed heartily: "Once Yang Invincible dies, my Liao kingdom will go to another big enemy!" Then he summoned the Liao god of war, Brother Yelü, and asked him to hang Yang Ye's head on the military flag and inspect the border army, and for a time, the Northern Song Border Army saw that Yang Ye was dead, and there were many people who surrendered! Poor Yang Ye, a generation of famous generals, ended up in a different place, whining and mourning!
Yang Ye's death of this Northern Expedition, originally due to Song Taizong's seeing the change of power in the Liao state and facilitated, but due to improper use of personnel led to the defeat of the middle road, when retreating, Song Taizong ordered Pan Mei and Yang Ye's Western Route Army to be responsible for covering the retreat of the people of the four prefectures, which also led to Yang Ye being entangled by Yelü Oblique, and finally retreating to Chen Jiagu in defeat, and finally dying!
When the news of Yang Ye's death reached the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, both Wang Nong and Pan Mei were punished. Wang Nong was directly punished as a slave, which shows his sin! But Pan Mei's punishment, it can be said that it is light, only demoted to the third level, and compared with Yang Ye's death, it is really minimal, which makes people chill!
Of course, the people of the world believe in the theory of righteousness, and feel that Pan Mei is the mastermind who trapped Yang Ye to death, but in fact, according to the prior arrangement, the supervising army Wang Nong and the commander Pan Mei should have chen bing to receive Yang Ye at Chen Jiagu, but Wang Nong instigated the withdrawal of the army because he could not grab the merits, which led to Yang Ye having no reinforcements, and failed to be captured. The improper use of Song Taizong also indirectly led to the death of Yang Ye.
Of course, it is right or wrong, and there are comments on it, and now people may be concerned about where the remains of Yang Lao Hero are buried. According to the records, when Empress Xiao first ordered Yelü Hugo to hang his head to patrol the border, after the end of the patrol, Yelü Hugo placed his head in the "Hongyang Cave" on the third floor of the Haotian Pagoda according to the customs of the Liao people, and this also became the basis for the remains of the Yang family to go out on a campaign to seize their husbands, it can be seen that the remains of Yang Lao Hero are most likely buried in the Haotian Pagoda in the current Fangshan Mountain, as for his body, in that environment of soldiers and horses, no one knows where to bury it, but because people admire this hero who would rather die than die. At present, there are many temples in China to worship Yang Ye, which shows its integrity and makes people admire!