"What you are happy about is not getting Liaodong, you are getting you"
"Three-year-old children are priced for a thousand and two, and the protector crosses the sea town in the west and east."
This sentence comes from the interpretation of Xu Maogong's dream of Tang Taizong in the "Sui and Tang Dynasties", alluding to the Tang Dynasty god of war, Xue Rengui.
As a great prosperous dynasty, the Tang Dynasty did not deserve to be called "shengshi" without a few mythical gods of war, and among them, Xue Rengui was a legendary god of war who turned mythology into reality.
How terrifying is Xue Rengui? According to historical records, when Xue Rengui was 68 years old, he took illness to kill the enemy, and as soon as he took off his hat, he directly frightened off hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops.
So what is Xue Rengui's real ability?
To say that Xue Rengui can finally become a generation of war gods, it is inseparable from the genes in his bones.
Xue Rengui was born during the Sui Dynasty Emperor and was the sixth grandson of Xue Andu, the king of the Eastern Wei River, who was also a great general with great military achievements, and the genes of the Xue family were superior.
Although the Xue family seems to have a rich family situation, in fact, Xue Rengui's generation has declined, and Xue Rengui has lived a poor life since he was a child, farming at home for a living.
To talk about how a farmer who farms a farm has become a generation of gods of war, thanks to his virtuous wife, The Liu Clan.
At that time, Xue Rengui wanted to move the ancestral tomb, and Liu Shi said:
"The ancestral tomb can be moved at any time, but now the emperor wants to personally conquer Liaodong and is recruiting generals, you have outstanding talents, why not strive for this opportunity?" It is not too late to wait until after the establishment of the meritorious service and then come back to move the ancestral tomb. ”
Xue Rengui was greatly inspired to hear his wife's words, so he decided to apply for the army, and from then on, Xue Rengui began his military career.
In 645, Emperor Li Shimin personally conquered Liaodong and vowed to retake Goguryeo, so Xue Rengui threw himself into Zhang Shigui's command and went out with the army.
Xue Rengui's fame battle is already particularly legendary.
On the battlefield of Liaodong, Lang's general Liu Junqiong was besieged by the enemy army and was about to lose his life, just at the moment of a thousand gunshots, Xue Rengui single-handedly rushed into the encirclement of the enemy army.
He brandished the Fang Tianji, and at once took off the head of a general of the enemy army, the enemy army was horrified, frightened and retreated, the team was instantly chaotic, and Liu Junqiong was saved.
After that, Xue Rengui became famous in a battle, and Li Shimin also remembered this heroic and incomparable soldier.
After returning to Chang'an City, Li Shimin personally promoted Xue Rengui, after which Li Shimin again personally conquered Goguryeo, and Xue Rengui had become a charge.
In June of the same year, Li Shimin launched another attack on Goguryeo, and in this station, Xue Rengui wore a white robe, held the Fang Tianji in his hand, carried a longbow around his waist, and shouted to lead the charge.
Morale in the army was instantly high, the soldiers were invincible under the leadership of Xue Rengui, and after the end of the First World War, the beheaded enemy army had more than 20,000 people, and the Goguryeo army was terrified and hurriedly withdrew.
After this battle, Li Shimin was overjoyed, and he not only made Xue Rengui a general, but also rewarded 10 household slaves and gave him a mansion.
After this, Xue Rengui followed Li Shimin on his southern expedition to the north, and later Li Shimin once said to Xue Rengui:
"The generals are old, they can't go to the battlefield to command anymore, and every time they want to promote some generals, but none of them can compare with you." What makes you happy is not getting Liaodong, what you are happy about is getting you. ”
These words alone are enough to see the degree of trust that Li Shimin has in Xue Rengui.
How was the God of War born that terrified the enemy?
Xue Rengui was promoted to the position of Right Leader Zhonglang General, who guarded Xuanwu Gate.
Li Shimin never lost a battle in his life, and the only regret in his heart was that he did not completely defeat Goguryeo, and after Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi took the throne and continued to start the conquest of Liaodong.
Like Li Shimin, Li Zhi had extreme trust in Xue Rengui, the god of war, and it was reasonable to say that many ministers who followed the former emperor would be suppressed after the new emperor took the throne, but Xue Rengui was the opposite.
The reason for this was simply that Xue Rengui was loyal to Li Tang.
Once Li Zhi was touring the palace, because of heavy rain, a flash flood broke out and flooded the palace, and the guards guarding the palace gate all scattered and fled, Xue Rengui was furious when he saw this scene, and scolded the soldiers for having no conscience.
At this time, Li Zhi was still trapped in the palace, Xue Rengui ran in alone to find Li Zhi, and finally rescued Li Zhi safely, Li Zhi said to Xue Rengui after being rescued: "Fortunately, you are here, I know that you are a loyal subject." ”
After this incident, Li Zhi trusted and relied on him more.
Xue Rengui was rewarded by the emperor with a royal horse, and his position in the court was extraordinary.
At this time, Goguryeo was not completely surrendered, although they did not dare to invade Chang'an, but they continued to make small moves on the border, and they joined forces with the Turks to constantly harass the border, causing the people to suffer.
In 657 AD, the Turks rebelled, and the Tang Dynasty sent troops to pacify the Turkic rebel, the general Nahelu.
At this time, Xue Rengui wrote to him: "The nameless battle of the division will not be won, and if it is clear to the people of the world that he is a thief, then there is a possibility of surrendering the enemy." ”
"Because of his own talents, Ni Shu did not want to live under Nahelu, so he was attacked, his wife and sons were taken prisoner, and our soldiers and horses had once received his family members, so it was better to send them back to be properly settled, so that the people of the world would know the grace of His Majesty."
After hearing this, Li Zhi was very agreeable, and he followed Xue Rengui's advice to put all of Ni Shu's family members back, and Ni Shu was so grateful that he submitted to Datang.
The following year, Goguryeo attacked again, and Xue Rengui once again mounted his horse and led his troops to goguryeo.
On the battlefield, Xue Rengui's sword was not old, he held a bow and arrow, rushed to the front first, cut through thorns and thorns where he passed, defeated Goguryeo in one battle, and beheaded thousands of enemy troops.
After this, Goguryeo attacked several times, Xue Rengui was the first to rush into the enemy position, he was heroic and invincible, the bow and arrow shot a hundred shots, as long as the enemy army hit Xue Rengui, all fell to the ground without a sound.
Once, the Tang army and Goguryeo fought against Shicheng, this time Goguryeo changed its strategy, came up and beheaded more than ten Tang troops, Xue Rengui was furious when he knew it, and when he mentioned Fang Tianji, he rushed into the enemy camp.
Only to see him galloping on horseback, falling with his knife in his hand, and after killing the encirclement, he directly captured the enemy general, and the Tang army was shocked by this, and beat Goguryeo back to his hometown in one breath.
After this battle, Xue Renguibai was made a general of the Zuo Wu Wei, and his reputation in Goguryeo was even more great, and the enemy could not help but be frightened when he mentioned his prestige.
It can be said that during Li Zhi's reign, he was able to expand the territory of the Tang Dynasty to the peak, and Xue Rengui played an indispensable role in it, and it was precisely with the existence of this terrible god of war that the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty could be created so smoothly.
The enemy lined up to swing at him
In 682, Li Zhi's physical condition was not very good, and he did not have the energy to take care of many political affairs in the dynasty.
At this time, the Turks, Tubo and other ethnic minorities jointly launched a coup d'état and began to launch an attack on Yunzhou.
The imperial court sent troops to the frontier to resist, and it was supposed to be able to fight the place home as soon as before, but by this time the enemy had changed its strategy.
They used a defensive policy, because of the terrain, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as they did not come out, Datang's army could only drag.
Over time, the problem becomes apparent.
The soldiers of the Central Plains fought on the frontier for a long time, and gradually lost their troops because of the problem of water and soil incompatibility, and slowly began to show a trend of defeat, and the imperial court was anxious to see the war situation.
Just as the thousand guns were about to strike, Xue Rengui decided to lead his troops to quell the war.
To say why Xue Rengui did not go to fight the enemy at the first time, it was because Xue Rengui was seriously ill at this time, and more importantly, this general was now 68 years old.
His figure was no longer so tall, he walked a little trembling, and although he was still heroic when he turned over on his horse, it was not difficult for the soldiers to see that the general's movements were already a little slow.
However, Xue Rengui still did not hesitate, he rode to the forefront as usual, and soon came to the battlefield.
In the ancient battlefield, although the two sides were mortal enemies, they would also abide by the rules, and there was an unwritten rule before the war, that is, both sides would have a process of shouting.
When Xue Rengui, who was at the forefront, called out his name, a riot was caused in the Turkic army, and they suddenly had the urge to escape.
After all, this time they dared to invade the Central Plains because they heard rumors that Xue Rengui had "passed away".
However, after the riot, the local general said that this person was not Xue Rengui, but a plan to lure the enemy by the other side, but when Xue Rengui took off his hat, the enemy finally could not calm down.
Who is the person in front of you who is not like a fake God of War?
The person in front of him was like a god, just by standing there and not moving, the morale of the Turks was cut in half, and the Turkic generals and soldiers even dismounted and lined up to give Xue Rengui a fight.
Although the two sides were enemies, it did not affect the Turks' reverence and fear for Xue Rengui.
With Xue Rengui leading the charge, the Turkic army was beaten back one after another, and the Tang army pursued the whole army under the leadership of Xue Rengui, and finally the Turks were killed by tens of thousands of people, and the Battle of Yunzhou was a complete victory.
It can be said that Xue Rengui began to enter the career, devoted his life to defending the Tang, he first defeated Goguryeo, and then broke the Turks, and the two generations of emperors trusted him and were grateful, which was enough to see that Xue Rengui's reputation as the god of war was not alarmist.
However, unfortunately, after this, his physical condition became worse and worse, and after only more than a year, Xue Rengui died of illness at the age of 70.
After Xue Rengui's death, Li Zhi was distraught, and he posthumously made Xue Rengui the governor of Youzhou and the general of Zuo Xiaowei, and then carried Xue Rengui's coffin back to his hometown for burial.
Nowadays, Xue Rengui's story is widely spread in the world, and people only know that he is a generation of war gods, but few people know how he was a god in this life.
Such merits and prestige were exchanged for their lives on the battlefield, and if the Tang Dynasty did not have Xue Rengui, presumably the defeat of Goguryeo and the Turks would not be so smooth.
So how do you feel about this god of war?