Since ancient times, who has heard of someone building a city on the enemy's territory, let alone not, even if it is said, no one will believe it, because this is not only a fantasy, but also violates the common sense of war.
But in the Tang Dynasty, there was a general who built three cities on enemy territory, and his actions caused people to be puzzled and discussed, but decades later, people discovered the cleverness of it.
Zhang Renyuan, who built the city
During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Zhang Renyuan requested that three "descending ponds" be built north of the Yellow River. When the watch was read out in the courtroom, the ministers looked at each other, because the location of the construction of the descending pool was in the enemy country, which was simply incredible in the eyes of the minister.
Suddenly, there was a lot of discussion in the court, but Zhang Ren was willing to insist on building three descending ponds, and finally persuaded Tang Zhongzong to build three cities in the border land.
Zhang Renyan was born in a small family of eunuchs, from a good family, he developed a good habit of loving to learn martial arts, even if he likes to practice martial arts, Zhang Renyan is also very interested in poetry, and when he becomes an adult, he is very popular in the Tang Dynasty. As everyone expected, Zhang Ren was willing to successfully become an official.
The young Zhang Renyan made great achievements in his career, and when Wu Zetian reigned, he sat in the position of serving the imperial history in the palace, which was a very good achievement for his age. He was upright and kind, and he could not tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes, and among the officials, he had a good reputation.
Until the Turks invaded the territory, Zhang Ren willingly went to the border with Wang Xiaojie as a supervisor to defend against the foreign Kou. During the entourage, Zhang Renyan was very dissatisfied with Wang Xiaojie's every move, and when he returned, he reported to Wu Zetian what Wang Xiaojie had done. Because of the merits of impeaching Wang Xiaojie, Zhang Ren was willing to be promoted to the rank of Imperial Attendant.
Many people have taken this matter and said that Zhang Renyuan is not really just and righteous, saying that he loves to make small reports, taking advantage of the opportunity to falsely accuse others of promotion and wealth, and is a despicable villain.
However, from another point of view, Wang Xiaojie should be regarded as Zhang Renyan's political enemy, and among those who are officials in the dynasty, there are few people with discordant political views, so it is also a matter of course that Zhang Renjie impeached Wang Xiaojie, and there is no such thing as a private vendetta.
Later, Zhang Renyan found out that Sun Chengjing had lied about his military merits, and after verifying it, he played to Wu Zetian, who felt that Zhang Renyuan was not favoritism and was a material for being a high official, so he asked him to take Sun Chengjing's place and go to the border. It is precisely because of this promotion that Zhang Renyan's life has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Zhang Renyan learned martial arts from an early age, and after he reached the border, he directly led his troops to meet the enemy. Zhang Ren was brave and good at war, repelling wave after wave of Turkic armies, and he showed extraordinary military talent on the border.
Zhang Renyan stayed on the border for eight years, until Wu Zetian abdicated and Emperor Zhongzong of Tang ascended the throne, and Zhang Renyuan was sent back to the capital to stabilize the situation. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was too volatile, the society was unstable, and there were chickens and dogs everywhere, and Zhang Ren was willing to use tough means to stop the turmoil in the city, and thus won a wave of praise for himself.
The proposal to build a city was criticized
After seeing Zhang Ren's wish to return to Beijing, the border Turks could not suppress their hearts and began to harass the border frequently. After receiving the information, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang ordered Zhang Renyuan to be the commander-in-chief of the Shuofang Army, and asked him to rush back to the border to suppress the Turks.
After returning to the border, Zhang Renyuan began to take over all the affairs of the border, and in the face of the repeated attacks of the Turks, Zhang Renyuan repelled them hundreds of miles away from the border at all costs.
As a result, the Turks disappeared for a long time. However, Zhang Renyan knew that the Turks would soon make a comeback, so he had the idea of building a surrendered city north of the Yellow River.
When the news of Zhang Ren's desire to build a city reached the imperial court, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang discussed the feasibility of this law with his ministers above the court. When the ministers heard Zhang Renyuan's thoughts, they thought he was joking, the location north of the Yellow River was the turf where the Turkic army was stationed, and Zhang Renyuan wanted to build a city there, and it was easy to talk about it.
Even the chancellor felt that Zhang Ren was suspicious and ill-intentioned, saying that he was probably bribed by the Turks, and only then proposed to the imperial court to build a city on the enemy's territory.
Zhang Ren was willing to understand that his request would be opposed and discussed by many people, but he did not pay attention to it at all, because he had been rooted in the border for many years, and the construction of the surrendered city was entirely for the sake of border peace.
The Turks were a nomadic people with a long history, not only proficient in riding, good at using short and fierce sneak attack tactics, their bravery and good at war, the more frustrated and courageous the momentum was enough to make people afraid, and the reputation of the steppe overlord was also gained.
Although from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Turks had a long history of war with the Central Plains, and were also suppressed and retreated to more remote areas by successive famous generals, the Turks never gave up their invasion of the Central Plains, but the momentum became more and more courageous.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there have been many wars with the Turks, and they can be repelled, but looking at the overall situation, the Turks are more and more extensive in the steppe, and their power is getting bigger and bigger, which is not a good thing for the imperial court.
If you want to annihilate the Turks in one fell swoop, you must be prepared for a long conquest. Long-term conquest not only requires strong troops, but also needs a large amount of grain, which alone requires the imperial court to pay a huge amount of money and energy, so the cost of war is too high, rao is that the imperial court is strong and rich, but also can not support the consumption brought about by years of conquest.
Then for long-term considerations, Zhang Renyan felt that it was the most suitable choice to build a surrendered city, and building three cities north of the Yellow River to form a solid defensive line could play a role in resisting the Turkic sneak attack.
Discover the advantages of the descended city
Although most of the ministers stood up against the vote, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang accepted Zhang Renyuan's proposal and agreed to build three surrendered cities north of the Yellow River.
The three cities were repaired, and as Zhang Renyuan said, they dealt a fatal blow to the Turkic army. At that time, the Turks secretly wanted to cross the defensive line to attack the Tang dynasty army, but the soldiers above the city had already found the Turks' figures, and used the defensive line formed by the three cities to catch the Turks by surprise. Since then, these three cities have dispelled the doubts of opponents and become important facilities for the border to defend against foreign enemies.
Later, in the next few decades, as soon as the Turks north of the Yellow River attacked, these three surrendered cities played a huge role and became an important tool to repel the Turks. Because of these three cities, the Turks north of the Yellow River could not cross the defensive line, and the army stationed on the border was reduced, which reduced a lot of financial pressure on the imperial court.
epilogue
It has to be said that Zhang Ren's willingness to build the surrendered city was a very correct and great thing, which not only benefited the imperial court, but also made great contributions to the defense of the Turks in later generations.
Although the proposal to build the city at that time was opposed and criticized by most people, after a few decades, people felt that Zhang Renyuan's approach was very clever, and they gave a thumbs up to the three surrendered cities.