Text: Li Guangcai (Columnist for Reading History)
A great nation can give birth to great heroes, and the temperament and spirit of heroes are integrated into the blood of the nation and shape the character of the nation. The most magnificent strong men and the sheng Tang Dynasty in Chinese history have created Chinese are eager to make contributions to the country, and dare to be the first in the world.
In the Tang Dynasty, there was such a hero who single-handedly created a great feat and recovered more than 4,000 miles of mountains and rivers, although his name is little known, but the merit he established is indelible.
He is Zhang Yichao.
Lost homeland
Every Chinese has a dream, and the name of this dream is Sheng Tang. The strong national strength of the Tang Dynasty, the magnificent weather, the highly developed civilization and the courage of the sea and rivers are all happy for future generations. But in 755 AD, a great change, such as thunder and thunder, broke the most powerful Tang Dynasty in Chinese history.
The Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the rebels broke through the Tang Dynasty's Chang'an and Luoyang capitals. In order to suppress the rebels, the imperial court transferred the heavy troops from Longyou, Hexi, and Shuofang, which had been guarding against Tubo, into the interior.
The border defenses in the Hehuang area became empty, and the Tubo people, seeing that hehuang was empty, began to take advantage of the fire and robbery, and gathered hundreds of thousands of troops to launch a fierce attack.
Since the Western Han Dynasty Wei Qinghuo went to the Xiongnu to invade the Xiongnu, the Hehuang region was included in the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty, and since then, successive dynasties have carefully managed this area. In the Tang Dynasty, the Hehuang region ushered in unprecedented prosperity. The Zizhi Tongjian records: "At that time, China was strong and prosperous, and from the anyuan gate to the west of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was 12,000 miles away, lu and Yan looked at each other, sangma was wild, and the world said that the rich were not as rich as Long Right."
However, this war plunged the Tang people throughout Hehuang into darkness.
The Tubo general Shang Qixin'er led more than 100,000 troops into Shazhou, the center of Hexi, and Shi Zhouding, the assassin of Shazhou, after being besieged for a year, thought that the isolated city was difficult to defend, and summoned his generals to discuss the destruction of the city to the east.
At that time, the soldiers and horses in the city made Yan Dynasty know that Zhou Ding had the intention of abandoning the city, so he personally arrested Zhou Ding and hanged him in front of the people of Shazhou to show his perseverance.
After that, Yan Zi led the state affairs and led the army and people to resist the Tubo siege for eight years. Eight years later, the army in Shazhou City was starved of food, and the Yan Dynasty ordered a section of the state capital silk in exchange for a bucket of grain, and the people of Shazhou responded to the call with grain storage.
The Yan Dynasty was overjoyed, and did not expect that the people had abundant food and that their belief in resisting the enemy was still strong, so they settled down and continued to wait for help.
In the vast desert, the isolated city of Tang Min held out for more than two more years, but in the end, because the grain and grass ordnance in the city were all used up, it was no longer able to resist Tubo.
The Yan Dynasty, with the promise of tubo not to migrate the people of the sandbar, surrendered kaesong. Since then, the sandbar city that has been held out for eleven years has fallen, and this land has completely fallen.
Dark years
The logic of the Tubo people is very strange, after occupying Hehuang, unlike the later Khitan and Jurchen ethnic minority regimes, they did not consider uniting and co-opting the local Han powerful families in order to maintain their rule, let alone intend to let them participate in politics.
In a word, Tubo did not have the idea of governing this place as its own territory, but only knew that it would intensify its inhumane rule in Hexi.
Shi Zai, Tubo "every Chinese, who is incompetent, makes the servants and the faces of the people who are coarse and literary; then the right arm of the coarse literary and artistic people, in order to wait for the order of Zampu", "let the cave shoulder bones, through the leather cord, with the hooves of the horses", Tang Min even slaves can not be.
In the first year of Emperor Dezong's reign (780 AD), the imperial court sent Wei Lun to make an alliance with tubo, and when passing through the Helong area, the people of the four directions heard that the envoys of the homeland were passing by, and they all came from all over the place to meet them, and they "all looked at the hairy fur, peeped at the gaps in the walls, or beat their hearts and wept, or danced in the east, and the secret passages were sparse, and the words were false, and they looked forward to the age of the king and the master."
Among them, there was an old man who had left here when he was young and had followed the army, and the old man grabbed Wei Lun's clothes with tears on his face, "Ask Tianzi if he is safe?" The present generations have not forgotten the Tang dynasty, and the imperial court still thinks of it", the old tears flowed, and they could not speak.
Rise of heroes
In this context, the Tang people, who advocated culture and martial arts and had the self-confidence to integrate into their bones, would definitely not be so ravaged and slaughtered by foreign enemies, and it was Zhang Yichao who led the Tang people to rise up against the invaders.
In 799, Zhang Yichao was born in Shazhou (present-day Dunhuang) after the fall of Hexi. Zhang's generation was a rich man in Shazhou, but when Zhang Yichao was born, it was the most difficult time for Shazhou to be besieged by Tubo, and by the time he understood things, Shazhou had been trapped in Tubo for many years. He did not enjoy the good days under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, but instead heard about the brutal rule of Tubo, and whenever the elders talked about how powerful and glorious the Former Tang Dynasty was, the young Zhang Yichao was also fascinated by the homeland in his mind, and the seed left by the Han and Tang spirits in this land also sprouted in his heart at this moment.
Zhang Yichao then made a grand wish, which was bound to expel the invaders, recover the mountains and rivers that originally belonged to China, let the Tang wind that blows for thousands of miles sweep away the darkness of this land, and let the Tang people and the oppressed ethnic minorities living in this land once again live that prosperous life.
In order to realize the grand wish of liberating the people on one side, Zhang Yichao assiduously studied the art of war and martial arts since he was a child, "On the sword of the soldiers, the study of the martial arts, the essence of Sun Wu and Bai Qi, and the bone marrow of Tao. ...... Knowing that Tubo's luck is exhausted, he vows to return to China with his heart, and his determination is undoubted."
In order to strengthen his power, he used all his family property as military funds; secretly recruited and trained rebels; and at the same time constantly took in exiles who were suppressed for rebelling against Tibet.
Zhang Yichao, whose strength has grown step by step, is waiting for an opportunity to move, waiting for the opportunity to recover. Finally, in May of the first year of the Great Middle School (847 AD), the opportunity that Zhang Yichao had been waiting for for many years finally arrived.
Take advantage of the uprising
By the time of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, the Tang Dynasty had finally breathed a little relief from the destruction of the Anshi Rebellion, and the Tang Dynasty already had the image of Zhongxing, so "the imperial court was weakened by uighurs, tubo was in civil strife, and the four towns and eighteen prefectures of Huihe and Huanghe were discussed."
In May of the first year of the Great Middle Era (847 AD), Wang Zai of Hedong jiedu led the Northern Armies and defeated the Tubo army led by Shang Zhire in Yanzhou. In December of the following year, Fengxiang Jiedu made Cui Jue play "Breaking Tubo, Ke Qingshui", and in one fell swoop recaptured Yuanzhou (Ningxia Guyuan), Shimen and other six passes, Weizhou (Ningxia Zhongwei County), Fuzhou (Gansu Wen County West).
The series of victories of the Tang Dynasty in the battle against Tibet gave the Han family langs who fell to Hexi a strong spiritual pillar. Zhang Yichao seized the opportunity and raised his arms in Shazhou, and the Tang people in Hexi heard everything and took up arms to rebel.
Zhang Yichao personally dressed in Jianrui, together with his friends An Jingmin, Yan Yingda and others, united with other local Han chinese heroes, and commanded the Tang people in Hexi to take up arms against the brutal rule of Tubo, and in one night restored the city of Shazhou, which had been in the hands of foreign enemies for 67 years.
Immediately afterward, Zhang Yichao led this Han army to break through the Tubo army that surrounded Shazhou, "the eight fronts of the Marquis of Qiwu, the strategy of burning cattle", so "breaking the siege of Tubo". Lead the soldiers and horses in the city to break out of the siege and fight with the Tubo army to the death. When the short soldiers met, "the white blades clashed, the corpses were all over the field, the embers were scattered, and the fog swept south."
Zhang Yichao's initial battle was a complete victory, and the Tang people in Shazhou were finally liberated.
Guiyi Imperial Court
Zhang Yichao was not carried away by the victory in the initial battle, and he deeply realized that the only way to gain greater appeal and give Tubo a more powerful blow was to contact the Tang court. So he immediately sent ten teams to Chang'an, hoping to fight with the imperial court on both sides and completely recover his homeland.
However, Shazhou and Chang'an are thousands of miles apart, and in the middle are mostly the areas controlled by the Yellow Sand Desert and Tubo, and these ten teams marched to Chang'an through the desert in all directions around the Tubo-controlled Hexi cities, and in this journey of nine deaths, nine of the ten teams failed to return to the motherland because Tubo intercepted or fell into the vast desert.
Only one team lasted two years and endured countless hardships to finally reach their destination, Chang'an.
When the messenger procession entered Chang'an City, the entire Chang'an City was shaken, from the Tianzi Gongqing down to the common people, all of whom were deeply moved, and When Li Chen, who was known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, received the emissary, he heard that Zhang Yichao's Daxing volunteers had recovered their homeland, and he could not help but praise "The generals of Kansai are also vain."
On the basis of consolidating the achievements of the battle, Zhang Yichao began to vigorously develop production, train the army, and restore the Tang system. Soon, the Shazhou area regained its former prosperity, and the Tang Dynasty was greatly encouraged.
The people of the entire Hexi region showed unprecedented solidarity and support for the rebels. Parents sent children, wives sent husbands, and they all enthusiastically joined the army. He also donated a large amount of food and money.
With the full support of the people of Hexi, the rebel army grew rapidly and repelled several counterattacks by Tubo on Shazhou. Subsequently, Zhang Yichao successively led the Shazhou army to retake Guazhou, Yizhou, Xizhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Lanzhou, Yanzhou, Hezhou, Minzhou, Kuozhou and other eleven prefectures, and the Hexi Corridor except Liangzhou had been recovered.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty, which had recovered its vitality, also sent troops to recover the Seven Passes of the Three Prefectures that had been trapped in Tubo for many years, and for a while the Hexi Pass was echoed, and the Tang Dynasty was greatly enhanced.
At this point, the road from Chang'an to the northwest via Xiaoguan had been fully opened, Zhang Yichao sent his brother Zhang Yitan to enter the dynasty with his territory, and Tang Xuanzong Li Chenzhi appointed Zhang Yichao as a defense envoy to Shazhou.
Retake Liangzhou
In the tenth year of the middle school, Tubo was not willing to fail, and the Tuhun King, who was entrenched near Shazhou, took advantage of the ripe wheat in September to rob the grain. Zhang Yichao quickly ordered troops to meet the attack, and the Tuhun King intended to only rob the grain and did not dare to fight. The Rebel army caught up with the enemy near Xitong, and the Fan army was defeated as soon as it clashed, and it was defeated all the way. Yi Chao ordered the armies to pursue them relentlessly, and they acted for more than a thousand miles, all the way to the border of Tuhun, and the king of Tuhun had no choice but to fight.
The tide of discussion urgently ordered the generals to divide into a whole team, waving the flag and drumming thunder. The infantry divided into two formations, marching forward to encircle the enemy army from left to right, and the elite horsemen of the tide led the tide to hold a white blade, and waited for the infantry to split the way in the formation and rushed to break through and directly step on the enemy position. For a while, the yellow sand spread, the wolf smoke clashed, the Tang army reproduced the style of the heavenly soldiers, and the Tufan army, which was surrounded by the rebel army, was already poor, and it was broken with one blow, "The Fang Rong was timid and ran to the north and south, and the Han general was a thousand places."
After the victory, Zhang Yichao grabbed the three tuhun prime ministers and bowed their heads in front of the troops, and then the whole army played the "Great Array Music" in unison, returning generously, "The flag team is like a splendid pile, and the silver back ridge is back." First teach the clean sweep anxi road, and then drink from the river source to malay! ”
In August 858, Zhang Yichao personally led 7,000 cavalry to attack Tubo in the east, and at Liangzhou, the last stronghold of the Hexi Corridor, the rebel army "divided into two roads, wrapped and four sides." People hold white blades, and suddenly ride to be the first. The whiskers are in harmony, and the fog is thick. ”
In the bloody deathmatch, the Gui rebels showed the courage of the once Han dynasty, and the tang people's confident and courageous spirit made them all put their lives and deaths on the outside, "the array of dark clouds, the rapid attack on all sides, the thieves are crazy, and the stars are divided into north and south." The Tubo army finally could not hold on and fled in an all-round way. As the saying goes, "The Han family holds a blade like frost and snow, the prisoner rides in the sky and has nowhere to escape, the head is in the center of the arrow to accompany the earth, and the blood is splashed through the battle jacket."
In the face of the fleeing Tubo army, Zhang Yichao ordered the whole army to pursue, but within fifty miles, the killing was all over the field.
In 861, after three years, the Tang Gui rebel army beheaded nearly 10,000 Tubo defenders and recovered the last piece of lost land in Hexi, the northwestern important town of Liangzhou, at this point, Hexi Guanlong was connected, "the west of Yiwu, the east of Lingwu, more than 4,000 miles of land, the house of a million households, the mountains and rivers of the six counties, just like the old", Tang Zhongxing, since then. And Zhang Yichao single-handedly recreated the glory of the empire, so that "a hundred years of left, restored to a crown; ten counties left Li, out of the soup fire."
In the eighth year of Xiantong (867 AD), Zhang Yichao entered the dynasty and sealed the eleven prefectures of Hexi to observe and dispose of the envoys, Jin Ziguanglu Dafu, Shangshu of the Inspection And School Inspectors, and Wanhu Hou of Hexi.
In the thirteenth year of Xiantong (872 AD), Zhang Yichao died in Chang'an.
The heroes of China's past generations are as bright as the stars, they jointly guard the entire nation, in the long river of history to break the wind and waves, so that the entire nation from ancient times to the present, their spirit and temperament have also become the spirit and temperament of the entire nation. Among the brilliant stars, one of them is Zhang Yichao, who belongs to the Tang Dynasty, a great hero who single-handedly restored more than 4,000 mountains and rivers and let the Tang wind blow directly for 12,000 miles.