Li Mi was a famous prison breaker in history, and he was captured by the Sui Dynasty officials and troops because of his participation in Yang Xuangan's rebellion. Li Mi was sentenced to death and escaped on his way to the execution ground. After Li Mi escaped, he became a teacher and was discovered by the officials and soldiers. Li Mi embarked on the road of escape again, and when Li Mi was cornered, he met Wang Bodang, a noble man in his life.
Wang Bodang was a good friend of Zhai Rang, the founder of the Wagang Army, and after he met Li Mi, he introduced Li Mi to Zhai Rang. Wang Bodang admired Li Mi very much, to the point of collapsing his heart and throwing his body to the ground. When Li Mi and Zhai let the fire merge, Wang Bodang sided with Li Mi. After Li Mi became the leading elder brother of the Wagang Army, Wang Bodang was reused.
After the defeat of the Wagang army, Li Mi led Wang Bodang to defect to the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan and Li Shimin admired Wang Bodang very much and gave Wang Bodang extremely high courtesy. Wang Bodang had just defected to the Tang Dynasty, and Li Shimin, the King of Qin, sincerely invited Wang Bodang to join the Qin King's shogunate. Wang Bodang refused Li Shimin's kindness and only regarded Li Mi as his lord.
Li Yuan once said that his view of Li Mi was "like an arrow into the artemisia bush." Artemisia is miscanthus, and artemisia arrows are arrows made of miscanthus rods. Li Yuan meant to say: "Li Mi is like an arrow made of miscanthus sticks, and it is not useful in the middle." I gave up on Li Mi, just like shooting an arrow into the mango grass, and I didn't feel any pain at all. ”
Li Yuan looked down on Li Mi, but attached great importance to Wang Bodang. As soon as Wang Bodang joined the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan appointed Wang Bodang as the General of Zuo Wuwei. During the Tang Dynasty, the Twelve Wei Generals were the highest military ranks, sitting on an equal footing with the prime minister. Li Yuan's brother-in-law, Dou Lu, joined Li Yuan's camp with capital from Li Yuan's newly raised army. After Li Yuan became emperor, Dou Lu did not become a general of the Twelve Guards.
Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin made great achievements in the Southern Expedition to the North for the Tang Dynasty, but neither of them received the post of General of the Twelve Guards. It was not until after the change of Xuanwu Gate that Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin became the Twelve Wei Generals. Wei Chi Jingde, who was ranked with Qin Qiong, also became the Twelve Wei Generals after the change of Xuanwu Gate. Wang Bodang's time as a general of the Twelve Guards was eight years earlier than Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and Wei Chi Jingde.
Li Yuan appointed Wang Bodang as the General of the Twelve Guards, which can be said to have given Wang Bo a lot of face. Unfortunately, Wang Bodang did not know how to lift, and he regarded a piece of Kindness from Li Yuan and Li Shimin as a donkey's liver and lungs. In Wang Bodang's mind, no matter how heavy Li Yuan's grace was, it was not as great as Li Mi's small favor to him.
Li Mi felt that Li Yuan did not pay attention to him, so he used the excuse of going to Luoyang to recruit the old department. Li Yuan ordered Li Mi to take Wang Bodang, Jia Yanfu, and Zhang Baode to Luoyang, and asked them to assist Li Shimin, the King of Qin, in attacking Wang Shichong. Li Mi ran halfway and revealed his intention to rebel. Although Zhang Baode was an old commander of the Wagang Army, he had an iron heart to serve the Tang Dynasty and secretly fled. Zhang Baode reported Li Yuan's conspiracy to rebel, and Li Yuan sent emissaries to recall Li Mi.
After Li Mi received Li Yuan's recall order, he decided to speed up the pace of rebellion. Jia Yanfu persuaded Li Mi to get lost and return, and Li Mi drew his sword and cut Jia Yanfu. Wang Bodang hugged Li Mi, and Jia Yanfu took the opportunity to escape. At this time, Li Mi was left with only Wang Bodang as a confidant. Wang Bodang said to Li Mi: "Ming Gong rebelled, and there was only one way to die." The eldest husband did not think about life and death, and I decided to tie my fate to Ming Gong. Whatever Ming Gong wanted to do, I followed. ”
Li Mi listened to Wang Bodang's words, turned around and beheaded Li Yuan's emissaries. After Li Mi and Wang Bodang made a plan, they decided to attack Taolin County, and then coerced the people of Taolin County to occupy the mountains and revolt. Li Mi sent emissaries to Taolin County to hand over a letter, falsely claiming that he wanted to spend the night in Taolin County. Taolin County Ling did not know that Li Mi had rebelled, so he opened the city gate to welcome Li Mi into the city.
Li Mi ordered a dozen soldiers to dress in women's clothes, falsely claiming that they were Li Mi's wives and concubines. These wives and concubines dressed as women hid their weapons under their skirts and mixed into the county town of Taolin. After the "wives and concubines" entered the county seat, they took off the women's clothes, took out their weapons, and killed Taolin County And opened the gate of Taolin County.
Wang Bodang led his men into Taolin County, held the population of Taolin County hostage, and forced them to join Li Mi's troops. As soon as Li Mi started the incident, Jia Yanfu had already arrived in Xiongzhou and reported to the Xiongzhou guards Sheng Yanshi and Shi Wanbao about Li Mi's rebellion.
As soon as Li Mi raised his troops, Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yan's troops chased after him. Li Mi did not expect that the Tang army would come so quickly, and could only flee in the direction of Yizhou. Yizhou was the territory of Zhang Shanxiang, who was originally a general of the Wagang Army, and after the defeat of the Wagang Army, Zhang Shanxiang took over the old department and occupied the city of Yizhou. Li Mi ordered Zhang Shanxiang to send troops to respond, and asked everyone to pay attention to the key word "order". A "Ling" word proves that Li Mi still regards himself as the leading big brother of the Wagang Army.
The crux of the matter is that Li Mi regards himself as the leading big brother of the Wagang Army, but Zhang Shanxiang no longer recognizes Li Mi as the leading big brother. Zhang Shanxiang had already agreed with Li Yuan and was ready to dedicate Yizhou City to Datang. Zhang Shanxiang was reluctant to send troops to meet Li Mi, and Li Mi could only flee to Yizhou City on his own.
Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yanshi expected that Li Mi had no way to retreat, and could only flee in the direction of Yizhou City. Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yan's division ambushed the crossbowmen on Li Mi's inevitable road, and when Li Mi's troops passed, the Tang army suddenly fired ten thousand arrows, and most of Li Mi's troops were killed or wounded. Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yan's division launched a charge, cutting Li Mi and Wang Bodang's troops into two pieces.
After a fierce melee, Li Mi was shot as a hedgehog, ending his life. Wang Bodang fulfilled his promise to live and die with Li Mi, and was also killed by ten thousand arrows piercing his heart. After Wang Bodang and Li Mi died, Li Yuan ordered that they be beheaded. People are dead, why behead them?
Li Yuan beheaded Li Mi in order to give his head to Xu Shijie, telling Xu Shiji and other former troops of the Wagang Army: "It is not Li Mi who wants to kill Li Mi, it is Li Mi who rebelled, and Li Mi had to kill Li Mi. ”
Li Yuan's beheading of Wang Bodang was a deep love and a deep responsibility. In order to recruit Wang Bodang, Li Yuan really made a bloody investment. Sheng Yan's division quelled Li Mi's rebellion, and Li Yuan only promoted Sheng Yan's division to the rank of general of the Twelve Guards. During the Tang Dynasty, the Twelve Wei Generals sat on an equal footing with the Prime Minister, and the Twelve Wei Generals sat on an equal footing with the Assassin Shi. Sheng Yanshi had made such a great contribution, but he was not as good as Wang Bodang, who had just defected to the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan was so attached to Wang Bodang, but Wang Bodang was determined to fight for Li Mi. Wang Bodang didn't know how to lift, and indeed it chilled Li Yuan's heart.
The end of Wang Bodang's life has always been extremely controversial. Some people say that Wang Bodang was loyal, but he betrayed the old lord Zhai Rang, and he was not a loyal subject. In my opinion: "Wang Bodang is not a loyal subject, he is just a foolish and loyal man who does not know the current affairs, he has firmly tied himself to Li Mi's crooked neck tree, and he is also to blame for his death." ”
Datang has always attached great importance to the old department of the Wagang Army. Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Xu Shiji, Wei Zheng, and Zhang Liang all became the heroes of Lingyange. Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin paid homage to the Twelve Wei Generals and sat on an equal footing with the Prime Minister. Xu Shiji, Wei Zheng, and Zhang Liang all became Tang dynasty ministers. After Zhang Shanxiang defected to the Tang Dynasty and died in battle, Li Shimin, in order to repay Zhang Shanxiang, made his son a county duke. The old department of Wagang, which abandoned the dark and cast the light, was rich and noble. Wang Bodang, however, wanted to abandon the light and cast darkness, and as a result, he became a headless ghost. Wang Bodang did not know how to lift, and he died unjustly!