Famous generals who do not like to use force sound ridiculous, but in theory it completely works. After all, "Sun Tzu's Art of War" pursues "the victory of a good warrior, no wisdom name, no courage"; people often put "a soldier who yields without fighting" on his lips, so there are really such strange people in history, such as this one in the Tang Dynasty.
Speaking of the heroes of Ling Yange, almost everyone knows and no one knows. In addition to the 24 originally established by Emperor Taizong of Tang, later Emperors of the Tang Dynasty also added portraits to it, including one of them:
Guo Yuanzhen, who was the elder of the wuzhou dynasty, Tang Ruizong, Tang Zhongzong, and Tang Xuanzong, was basically active in the first line of the northwest military in the first half of his life, serving as the inspector of Anxi Duhu, the grand commander of the Jinshan Road March, and commanded hundreds of thousands of troops.
But miraculously, you can hardly see any record of him leading soldiers to fight in the history books. His military career perfectly embodies what it means to be a "soldier who surrenders without fighting."
Guo Yuanzhen's real name is Guo Zhen, the word Yuanzhen, and he is a reader. In this area, he stood at the top of the pyramid at that time. Why?
First, he entered high school at the age of 18 and was appointed Lieutenant Tongquan in the same year. What is this concept? The difficulty of the Tang Dynasty's imperial examination was recognized as hellish: only one jinshi was entered once a year, and only about one or twenty people were admitted each time;
What is even more difficult is that the entry into the army and the first does not mean that you can enter politics, if you want to become an official, you also have to go through the re-examination of the official department, but the admission rate is a pit on the pit: "The choice of the official department is not as good as one in ten", it is said that many jinshi can not become an official in their lifetime.
Therefore, the imperial examination system also gave birth to many "resentful men" during the Tang Dynasty, the most famous of course being the Huang Chao, who repeatedly failed to fail and rebelled in anger.
Secondly, Guo Yuanzhen's literary style is outstanding, known as "the article has an air of elegance, which is valued by the times", and the Quan Tang Poems contains eighteen of his poems, the Quan Tang Wen collects five of his works, and he also writes another twenty-two volumes. This kind of achievement, even in the entire Tang Dynasty, is quite outstanding.
But in the Tang Dynasty, where talents were born, if there were only the above characteristics, it was too "ordinary". Guo Yuanzhen also has the following differences from ordinary people:
Superior appearance - Although there were many handsome men in the Tang Dynasty, it was quite rare for them to be specifically described in history books. Guo Yuanzhen is an exception, he is "seven feet long, beautiful beard", like Guan Yu, tall, beautiful hair fluttering, a table of talent, temperament.
Chivalrous - "Xia", originally a very influential special group in the pre-Qin period, they treated people generously, regarded money as dung, and did not hesitate to insert knives in the ribs of friends, but it was inevitable that they would break the law. After being attacked by several emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, this group has gradually disappeared. But in Guo Yuanzhen, this temperament is once again reflected:
At the age of 16, he entered Beijing to study Taixue and took with him the 400,000 yuan that his family had given him. But one day, when a man in mourning clothes came to visit and claimed that he had no money to bury his relatives, Guo Yuanzhen did not say a word, gave away all his entanglements, and did not even ask the other party what his name was.
What is even more outrageous is that later, when he had just entered the career and served as a lieutenant of Tongquan, due to his lavish spending of money and making friends, which led to economic problems, he even opened his mind and blatantly minted coins and sold people privately...
In this way, Guo Yuanzhen is like a reader full of underworld atmosphere. However, as he left the locality and entered the imperial court, he was arranged to the corresponding post, but he became a famous courtier who protected the country and the country and the people.
The matter of minting private money and reselling the population made Guo Yuanzhen, who had always been unknown, attract the attention of the supreme ruler at that time, that is, wu Zetian, which we know as it.
At first, wu Zetian was very angry when she heard that the officials of the Tang Dynasty Empire had actually done such a lack of morality, and she summoned Guo Yuanzhen and planned to deal with it strictly in person.
But after a few words, she found that the other party was talking extraordinary; in order to fully understand, she asked Guo Yuanzhen to hand over an article written by herself, which presented the "Sword Chapter".
After reading it, Wu Zetian was amazed and passed it on to li jiao, a scholar known for his talents and learning, and then he waved a big hand: He appointed Guo Yuanzhen as the right wu wei cao to join the army and enter the fengchen supervisor.
Promoting talents like this is not uncommon for Wu Zetian, and famous courtiers such as Di Renjie, Yao Chong, Song Jing, and Lou Shide are all recognized and favored by her insight. And Guo Yuanzhen is no exception, but what many people did not expect was that this literati was actually famous for his meritorious service in the western frontier.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, the Tang Dynasty remained aggressive and achieved the overthrow of Goguryeo. However, at that time, the exchanges and collisions between various nationalities and cultures became more and more frequent, and many surrounding ethnic groups had the strength to stand on their own, resulting in a large number of regimes with certain strength at that time, and the complexity was rare in history; and within the Tang Dynasty, due to long-term political instability, complex political struggles, frequent changes in personnel relations, the imperial court failed to maintain a stable ethnic policy as during the Zhenguan years, resulting in more and more serious problems in the northwestern frontier, and the strong Tubo and Western Turk departments were a great headache.
The most cattle nature is Tubo, which at that time was known as the strongest "Xi Rong" in ancient China, and its offensive power and threat to the Central Plains Empire could even be compared with the Xiongnu. In the Battle of Dafeichuan in 670 AD, the Famous Tubo Minister Tan Qinling led 400,000 people to recruit the famous Tang general Xue Rengui, and 100,000 Tang troops were wiped out and almost completely destroyed. Subsequently, the two sides have been coming and going for a long time, fighting and talking, and no one has a clue to the other.
In this complex historical situation, there are often cattle people who operate magically, just like Changsun Sheng, who skillfully dismembered the Turks during the Sui Dynasty. In the Wu Dynasty, the first person to have this style was Guo Yuanzhen.
In 696, Tubo signaled peace, and Wu Zetian entrusted Guo Yuanzhen with an envoy.
During the talks, Theon Qinling put forward the demand that "the Tang army withdraw from the four towns of Anxi (at that time, it was Shanye, Guizi, Khotan, and Shule) and hand over the land of the Ten Turks." This was equivalent to nakedly demanding that the Tang Dynasty hand over the Western Regions, cut off its wings, and then approach Hexi, and Guo Yuanzhen would certainly not accept the move; but in order to avoid directly tearing his face, he proposed to let Tubo send people to follow him to the imperial court to discuss in person.
But in fact, Guo Yuanzhen has long been confident. After returning to Luoyang, at his suggestion, the imperial court replied to Tubo like this:
Since you are not interested in the Two States of Gan and Liang of the Tang Dynasty, we can meet your core demands - to give up the four towns and ten surnames that are far away from the Central Plains and resemble chicken ribs;
However, Qinghai and Tuguhun are also the strategic core areas of Datang, which were robbed by you in the early years and should now be returned to show replacement.
There is no better way to deal with the enemy's excessive demands than to make an equal demand. Guo Yuanzhen can be said to have mastered the true meaning of human nature, and he was sure that the original intention of The Qinling was to empty the gloves of the white wolf and could not agree to the land replacement; but once the other party refused, it would fall into the situation of loss. In fact, it was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to replace the Western Regions, leaving aside the strategic position of the Silk Road, "the four towns have been attached for a long time, and their hearts rely on the country are not the same as Tubo and so on?" "How could the Tang Empire, which had come from all over the world, abandon the vassal states that were truly submissive to it and use it as a bargaining chip for negotiations?"
But this is only the first step, and Guo Yuanzhen then proposed a more desperate move. According to his analysis, the reason why Tubo proposed peace was only because the people were miserable about the long-term war; the pressure on the public opinion of the government and the opposition was too great, so that the self-respecting Theory Qinling, which was holding the soldiers hostage, had to make a show. But in the end, he can't turn a into a jade bunting (after all, the rules of rabbit and dog cooking apply everywhere).
Therefore, in view of this contradiction in Tubo, Guo Yuanzhen suggested deliberately sending people to Tubo every year to show goodwill and seek peace, and the more Qinling refused, the more he should be sent, so as to intensify the conflict between Tubo's monarchs and the government and the opposition.
In this way, when The QinLing rebelled against the "good intentions" of the Tang Dynasty several times in a row, Tubo did indeed erupt into infighting. In 699, Heqin ling was killed in civil unrest, and his brother led the remnants to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
This is the typical "soldier who surrenders without a fight", Guo Yuanzhen's two-sided strategy is more like a diplomatic victory, but then, he personally went to the western front and defended the side.
In 700, the Tubo army entered KouLiangzhou, but was easily repelled by Tang Xiujing, the governor of Liangzhou. According to historical records, Guo Yuanzhen at that time also participated in military aircraft, which may be the closest he has to personally fight.
The following year, Tubo and the Later Turks (the successors of the Eastern Turks) jointly invaded Liangzhou, and Wu Zetian immediately appointed Guo Yuanzhen as the governor of Liangzhou and the ambassador of the Longyou military states, leading 50,000 soldiers and horses to Hexi. Because Tubo Zampu (equivalent to the king), who had suffered a great loss, had always been jealous of Guo Yuanzhen, and when he heard that he had come in person, the Tubo people immediately heard the wind and retreated.
During the five years that followed Liangzhou's reign, Guo Yuanzhen built a military fortress on the throat artery, which greatly expanded the area controlled by the Tang army, which was known in history as "expanding the territory of 1500 miles". At the same time, he sent people to adapt to local conditions and cultivate the fields, Liangzhou achieved a great harvest every year, cattle and sheep were everywhere, and grain and grass could be used only for ten years; in addition, because of his superior wrists and good at caring for the emperor, there had been no war in Xi'an for many years, social stability, prohibitions were prohibited, the road was not left behind, and soldiers and civilians of all nationalities even built shrines to praise his merits.
Under Guo Yuanzhen's management, Liangzhou successfully deterred The Tubo and Turks, and became the rear base of the Beiting/Anxi capitals and a solid hub connecting the Central Plains. It is for this reason that he is regarded as a generation of famous players. During the Shenlong period, he was promoted to the rank of General of Zuo Xiao Wei and The Protector of Anxi Dadu.
But as a military commander, Guo Yuanzhen did not like to fight much, and what he liked to do the most could be summed up as: if he could move his mouth, he would never use force, and if he could attack his heart, he would never use force, and the pacification of the Western Turks was the best example.
As a regime, although the Western Turks were suppressed by Su Dingfang in 657 AD, the remnants still lived in the old land for a long time, and the so-called "Ten Turks" mentioned above is its pronoun, and their opposition to the Tang Dynasty is really a headache.
When Guo Yuanzhen was serving as the protector of the capital of Anxi, the then powerful Wu Zhile was willing to submit to the Tang, so the two of them discussed in the account. Perhaps it was the reason for the very happy conversation, the two talked for several hours, when the snow was flying, Guo Yuanzhen was rich and strong enough to choke, but the elderly Wu Zhile did not resist, and died not long after returning.
At this time, Wu Zhile's son Jiao Ge did not do anything, he believed that Guo Yuanzhen deliberately killed his father, so he led his troops to attack. The Tang Army was not afraid of fighting, but this matter was really unclear, and once it was exchanged, it would be even more impossible to recruit various departments in the future. So Guo Yuanzhen neither evaded nor fought, but personally rushed to the Turkic camp, mourned Utille in front of the spirit, cried earth-shakingly, and then stayed behind to help deal with the funeral.
This gesture made The anger of Shange disappear, he discarded suspicion, warmly entertained Guo Yuanzhen and his party, and offered 5,000 horses, 200 camels, and more than 100,000 cattle and sheep to the Tang to show their submission, and the relationship between the Tang and the Western Turks became increasingly close, and Guo Yuanzhen was awarded the grand commander of the Jinshan Road March for his merits.
Later, this matter had many twists and turns, and Guo Yuanzhen once again turned the tide and successfully avoided unnecessary war breeding.
In 708, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang reigned. In this year, because they did not obey the temperance of Qi, the old subordinate of Utille, named Que Zhongjie, raised an army, and the two sides attacked each other and competed several times, stirring up the Turkic tribes. In order to eliminate the contradictions, Guo Yuanzhen suggested that the imperial court recruit Que Si into the dynasty, and his people scattered and moved to the interior.
However, at the instigation of his subordinates, Que Zhongjie bred greater ambitions, and after bribing the current chancellor Zong Chuke, he successfully ordered the Anxi soldiers to join forces with the Tubo army to attack Ande and support himself.
Guo Yuanzhen knew the situation in the Western Regions very well, and he understood that Que Que was unreliable and that Jiao Ge was more trustworthy, so he immediately wrote to the imperial court to stop it, but under the manipulation of Zong Chuke, his opinion was shelved. Subsequently, when the Tang army had not yet moved, Jiao Ge, who had discovered the news, immediately attacked first, captured the Anxi Capital Protectorate, and captured Que Zhongjie, and the Tang almost lost control of the Western Regions.
But even so, Zong Chuke and others were still covering up the truth, expelling Guo Yuanzhen, and planning to mobilize a large army to attack Jiaoge. Once it gets to this point, it will be a lose-lose situation. After obtaining The Statement of Jiao Ge, Guo Yuanzhen sent his son to copy the small road to Beijing to report the facts. In the end, the imperial court judged the situation, restored Guo Yuanzhen to his post, and crowned Ge Ge as the fourteenth khan of the Western Turks, giving him the name Shouzhong. After that, Jiao Ge no longer opposed the Tang Dynasty and loyally guarded the border.
After Emperor Ruizong of Tang ascended the throne, Guo Yuanzhen returned to his post, and the leaders of various ethnic groups in the Western Regions painstakingly retained him, and the people greeted him with the wind. Tang Ruizong also praised him: "Yuan Zhen is upright and upright with Song Jing, the political reason is more than Yao Chong, and his heroic schemes are more brilliant!" In the following years, Guo Yuanzhen was promoted to Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin (Zai Xiang) and Shangshu of the Qianjue Department, and also served as the chief general of the Shuofang Army and the Shangshu of the Bingbu Department.
But this pillar of the country, in the end, can not escape the cruelty of politics. In 713, Guo Yuanzhen participated in the murder of Princess Taiping and was made a Duke of Daiguo; not long after, he was appointed by Li Longji as the Grand Governor of Shuofang to guard against the Turks.
However, in the immediate lishan martial arts incident that followed, he was accused of "military disharmony" and was almost beheaded, and only changed to exile in Xinzhou under the advice of Liu Youqiu and Zhang Shuo. Soon after, Li Longji thanked him for his merits and pardoned him as Sima of Raozhou, but by this time Guo Yuanzhen was already physically and mentally exhausted, and he died of illness on the way to office, at the age of fifty-eight.
The merits of the Four Dynasties of the Tang Empire ended up in such a fate, not because Guo Yuanzhen was unfaithful and not excellent, but just as "one dynasty and one courtier", Li Longji must have just changed the cage for birds and not allowed such a respected military and political elder to stay in a high position.