Li Mi's arrogant and conceited personality gradually revealed
First, internal misconduct
Zhai Rang's weakening of his forces with the old ministry meant that Li Mi's position in the Wagang Army had been secured, so Li Mi began to have a negative shift in his personal behavior and attitude towards governance, as described in the historical data in the previous paragraph
There was no reward for the generals who had made military achievements in the confrontation, and only treated those who had just returned to them, resulting in a lot of complaints about Li Mi in the hearts of everyone in the old department. Li Mi's move not only caused the morale of his subordinates to be demoralized, but also caused flaws in governance, according to history:
Li Mi film and television image
Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, there has been a lot of famine in various places, and the Wagang army, under the leadership of Li Mi, has occupied an important granary of the Sui Dynasty, so that its camp has abundant grain. However, Li Mi did not cherish this hard-won grain, and when he opened the warehouse to let the people get grain, he did not formulate or plan a perfect system, allowing countless grain to be wasted. In the face of this situation, Li Mi was not only not alert, but also satisfied with the continuous pomp and circumstance of grain harvesters, and said smugly: "This can be described as enough food"!
Wagang Military Point General Station
Second, diplomatic and military errors
Since Li Mi entered the Wagang Army, the political road has not only been soaring, but also "the hero of the sea, Xian lai responds", and has been pushed by the heroes of the four sides as the leader of the alliance. All kinds of brilliant achievements made Li Mi begin to inflate himself, believing that he was the most powerful of all the forces, so he did not pay attention to other separatist forces, Shi Zai:
Li Mi regarded himself as an ally and did not pay any attention to anyone, including Li Yuan's father and son. Li Yuan saw that Li Mi was so conceited that in order to be able to successfully enter Guanzhong, he ordered Wen Daya to draft a reply letter and use the way of humbly recommending Li Mi to let him relax his defenses against his own march.
Wagangzhai Cultural Tourism Zone
In addition to political conceit, military operations were also based on pride and contempt for the enemy. In September of the first year of Wu De, Wang Shichong gained the supreme power of the Luoyang regime, and Li Mi and Yu Wenhua and the battle had just ended, Li Mi's army was in a weak state, Wang Shichong did not give him a chance to breathe, so he took this opportunity to send troops to attack. The two armies fought a decisive battle against the Yan Division. At that time, Li Mi was camped on the Beiqi Mountain, and Li Mi was proud of his victory, so he did not set up a barrier to guard against it, which allowed Wang Shichong to easily infiltrate his camp and ambush him on a light horse at night. At dawn, the long drive went straight into Li Mi's position and set fire to his camp, causing the Wagang army to collapse in an instant.
Improper administration caused the collapse of Li Mi's camp
(1) Pay attention to the eastern capital and have no intention of neglecting it
The above mention of Li Mi's unintentional management of Wagang is mainly because Li Mi's strategic focus is focused on the eastern capital and does not care about it. Judging from the situation at that time, Wang Shichong gained the power of the eastern capital, so that Li Mi's westward advance was cut off by Wang Shichong's army, whether by land or the Yellow River, which really seriously affected Li Mi in Xingyang, and the Wagang army was not only besieged here, but also difficult to expand outward. For Li Mi, how to defeat Wang Shichong, occupy Dongdu, and change the existing situation is the first priority.
Tang Zhenguan Shifa Chiping Wang Shichong took a back general riding a shooting chart to fold two copper to spend money
However, Li Mi was obsessed with occupying the eastern capital, and the world was easy to have for himself. Therefore, the final result was that not only did he not capture the Eastern Capital, but he made it even more difficult for him to open a new situation, but he missed the opportunity. For example, Chai Hyo-ho once suggested not to fight around Dongdu:
Chai Xiaohe believed that Zhai Rang should be allowed to stay in Luokoucang, Pei Renji to return to Luocang, and Li Mi personally led an army to attack Chang'an in the west and capture Guanzhong. However, Li Mi believed that this policy was difficult to implement, one of them was that all his troops were Shandong people, and insisting on the western expedition might not be able to achieve his wishes, and the second was that if he personally went west, he was deeply afraid that the camp would fall into civil strife. Therefore, only Xiao He was sent to lead dozens of people into Guanzhong to test, and successfully absorbed more than 10,000 local thieves, which showed that although Chai's strategy was obviously aggressive, it was indeed feasible, but unfortunately it could not be fully implemented, so that Guanzhong finally fell easily into the hands of Li Yuan. The person who made suggestions to Li Mi was not only Chai Xiaohe, but also Xu Hongke. Xu Shi was a Taishan Daoist monk, and he once suggested to Li Mi:
Xu Hongke believed that at this time, the military horses were strong and strong, and they should seize the opportunity to go east along the canal, directly take the capital of Jiangdu, and then command the world. However, the "Zizhi Tongjian" did not see any special actions taken by Li Mi after hearing this proposal, and still for a long time under the defense of the fortified city, and launched a "hundred battles before and after" with Wang Shichong, which not only delayed the opportunity for the development of Wagang, but also greatly depleted his own strength and missed the opportunity to open a new situation.
Zhai Rang film and television image
(2) Aiding Wang Shichong with rice grain
The reason why Li Mi agreed to Wang Shichong was because Li Mi was overconfident in himself. Li Mi believed that the Sui army was not only weak in strength, but also uncoordinated, and believed that it had a chance to win, so he did not consider in detail the consequences of changing grain for clothes. Moreover, Li Mi did not expect that Wang Shichong would not only gain great power in the eastern capital Luoyang, but also actively carry out preparations for the battle against Wagang, such as rewarding soldiers and repairing equipment. Therefore, when the eastern capital Luoyang received grain and rice, it not only directly affected the number of people who belonged to Li Mi's camp, but also rapidly reduced the number, but also greatly improved Wang Shichong's army's combat effectiveness, and the Sui army had more strength to confront Li Mi. Therefore, the result of changing grain for clothes has put Li Mi and other Wagang forces in a disadvantageous position.
Yu culture and portraits
(3) Promise to the Yue King Dong Vayu culture and
When Daye Fourteen Years of Yu Culture and the return of the Western Capital from Jiangdu, all the people in the Eastern Capital were terrified, and the Sui officials knew that Yu Culture and the more than 100,000 people who led them were unstoppable, so Nei Shi Ling Yuanwen proposed:
The officials in Dongdu wanted nothing more than to use Li Mi to fend off Yuwen and, at the same time, when the strength of the Wagang army weakened, they could reap the benefits of the fishermen. Therefore, Yang Tong, the Yue king of Dongdu, pardoned Li Mi for his sins and made Li Mi a lieutenant, a Shang Shu Ling, a Daxingtai of Southeast Province, a marshal of the march, and a duke of Wei.
Faced with this situation, it was logical that Li Mi should plan with the interests of the camp, adopt the strategy of returning to the division and not curbing it, and try to avoid contact with Yu Culture and try to preserve the strength of the army and serve as a reserve force for sweeping away the remnants of the Sui Dynasty in the future. Or join the same front as Yu Culture and Lian, Ren Yu Culture and attack Dongdu, and then reap the benefits of the fisherman. However, Li Mi did not do this, but instead accepted Dongdu's edict and was willing to send troops to attack Yu Wenhua.
The reason why Li Mi agreed to send troops to Dongdu to conquer Yu Culture and may be because Li Mi was deeply afraid of Yu Culture and attacked Luoyang, so he had to face the possibility of a direct conflict with the Yuwen Clan, which was a cost-effective thing for the Wagang Army? Moreover, Yu Culture and the road back to Guanzhong were also Li Mi's sphere of influence. Under such a measure, Li Mi would rather choose to keep him in the east of Liyang.
Li Mi and Yu Wenhua and the battle, although Wagang won the victory, it was doubly difficult. Not only was Li Mi shot by stray arrows, but his army was also "killed by many soldiers, and the soldiers were tired and sick", and Wagang's strength had been greatly weakened in this battle.
Restoration of ancient Luoyang
Li Mi and Yu Wenhua and the war, in order to avoid a two-front war, must compromise with Dongdu and make a deal based on principles. However, for the personnel under the Wagang Army, this has already violated their original intention and position of participating in the uprising against the Sui. In other words, the direction and target of the Wagang Army have been out of focus.
Li Mi's demise and the movements of his men
In September of the first year of Wu De, Wang Shichong besieged Yan Shishi at night, successfully defeated Li Mi, and betrayed the soldiers under Zheng Jie, and surrendered Wang Shichong to the city. Wang Shichong captured Pei Renji, Zheng Jie, Zu Junyan, and dozens of others. Therefore, Li Mi led the remnants of the forces to Luokou. However, Luokou's Feng Yuanzhen had already betrayed Li Mi and cooperated with Wang Shichong. Li Mi was also very clear about Feng Yuan's true back, and originally planned to counter Wang Shichong's army, but he did not expect to miss the opportunity, coupled with Shan Xiongxin and other troops to defend themselves, resulting in Li Mi being unable to launch an attack, so he had to flee to Tiger Prison and then transfer to Wang Bodang in Heyang. As soon as Li Mi left, Bing Yuanzhen immediately left the city and surrendered, and then Shan Xiongxin also led his men to surrender.
Li Mi, who was in Heyang, also planned to "want to block the river in the south, guard Taihang in the north, and connect Liyang in the east in an attempt to forge ahead." But none of his generals supported Li Mi's idea. Li Mi had no choice but to join forces with Wang Bodang and more than 20,000 other troops to surrender to Li Yuan in the west to Chang'an.
bibliography:
Zizhi Tongjian
Old Book of Tang
New Book of Tang
Book of Sui
History of the Five Dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasties