Tang Xuanzong seems to have exhausted his life's luck in the first half of his life, and he worked hard to create a prosperous kaiyuan and push the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty to the peak. Just when people thought that the Tang Dynasty was boundless, history made a big joke with the Li Tang Dynasty: the watershed came too quickly. In the later period, Tang Xuanzong was addicted to wine, which led to the decadence of the dynasty and various social contradictions. In addition, Tang Xuanzong also appointed some traitorous ministers, who ran amok and tyrannical, causing chaos in the imperial program, and eventually causing the ancestral inheritance of Li Tang to be destroyed little by little. Fortunately, there are some generals who are desperately trying to hold on to data when it is about to fall.
The most famous of these generals were Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, and everyone knew that Guo Ziyi was named the king of Fenyang County, but the lord of gonggao was not suspected by the emperor, and was one of the few powerful ministers who could have a good ending. What about Lee Kwang-bi? Li Guangbi's ending is the opposite of Guo Ziyi's, and he is ostracized by the adulterers and the suspicion of the king, and he ends up depressed. But looking back on Li Guangbi's life, we have to admire this Khitan who was loyal to the Tang Dynasty.
1. The Khitans who grew up reading the Book of Han
Li Guangbi was originally a Khitan man, and during the Wu Zetian period, his father Li Kailuo (the Khitan chieftain) came to surrender and became a vassal of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Guangbi loved to read the Book of Han since childhood, had a calm personality, was good at riding and shooting, and joined the army when he was a teenager. He was resourceful, managed the army majestically and skillfully, was good at winning by surprise, won more with less, and was extremely endowed with military ability, so he was deeply valued by Wang Zhongsi, who once gave him a very high evaluation, saying, "He is the one who wins over our soldiers, and Guangbi is also." Indeed, Li Guangbi did not live up to Wang Zhongsi's high hopes, and after the Anshi Rebellion, he tried his best to turn the tide and attack the enemy army, and the history books praised him a lot, and the New Book of Tang praised him: "With Guo Ziyi's name, the world is called 'Li Guo', and the battle merit is pushed as the first in Zhongxing." The Old Book of Tang says: "All those who speak are headed by Sun, Wu, Han, and Bai." If the light is bowed to the sexual mourning, the love of the son of man is obvious; the hero is a general, and the government of the military is solemn. With the odd use of soldiers, with fewer defeats of the multitude, the present than the ancient, inquiring about the matter, the four sons of him, or the one who has the virtue. ”
Second, Chang Shan kneels
In the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), Li Guangbi's military talent was greatly appreciated by Guo Ziyi, so Guo Ziyi recommended him to Tang Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang immediately ordered Li Guangbi to be the deputy ambassador of the Zhijie and Hedong Festivals, and to know that the Hedong Festival was also the Taishou of Yunzhong.
After being appointed, Li Guangbi's first goal was to retake Changshan County, which had been occupied by An Shi's rebels. Changshan County was the throat fortress for the rebels to communicate between the north and the south, and it was of great strategic significance. However, due to the blind command of the imperial court at the beginning of the Anshi Rebellion, although the soldiers and civilians of Changshan County put up fierce resistance, Changshan eventually fell into the hands of the enemy. After the fall, the people of Changshan County were killed by the rebels in retaliation. By the time Li Guangbi regained Changshan, there were already corpses all over the field, and many civilians were imprisoned by the rebels. In the face of such a tragic scene, Li Guangbi burst into tears and made a move that stunned his subordinates: he knelt down to the people of the city in a white dress. He said that Changshan had fallen and the army and the people had suffered; it was the shame of his being a general, and he swore that he would stab Anshi traitors.
Li Guangbi was a tough man who only knelt on his knees in his life, but that day he was on his knees in front of a group of people of status and status. This kneeling ignited the belief of the Tang Army in swearing to kill the enemy to the death, and knelt out a group of iron-blooded soldiers who were invincible.
Later, he surrendered the enemy general An Siyi, and at the suggestion of An Siyi, he strengthened the city defenses and launched a defensive battle with Shi Siming. When the two armies fought, Li Guangbi restrained Shi Siming's infantry with a crossbow, causing Shi Siming to retreat and had to send 5,000 reinforcements from Raoyang. After Li Guangbi learned that Shi Siming's reinforcements had arrived at Fengbi from Raoyang, he surprised the reinforcements and annihilated them. Shi Siming was horrified to hear this news, but there were no reinforcements, and the morale of the generals was low, so they could only retreat to Jiumen County. At this point, only nine gates and gaocheng in the nine counties of Changshan were still in the hands of the rebels, and the other seven counties were all recovered. In this move, Lee Kuan-bi's superb military ability was once again verified.
3. Portrait of Ling Yan Pavilion
In the Anshi Rebellion, after the fall of Tongguan, Taiyuan, the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty, became the last line of defense of the Tang Dynasty, and if Taiyuan was lost, the Tang Dynasty would be difficult to protect. In order to save this defensive line, Li Guangbi led 5,000 elite soldiers to Taiyuan, and after arriving in Taiyuan, they joined the Taiyuan defenders, but the number was less than 10,000. In the face of Shi Siming's 100,000 rebels, Li Guangbi did not panic in the slightest. He ordered people to dig tunnels to lead directly to the rebel camp, and the rebels were often dragged down the tunnels and killed after scolding, and then hung on the city wall to show the public, so Li Guangbi gave the rebels a great psychological shock. In addition, he also moved his handsome tent to Taiyuan City. Li Guangbi's actions greatly boosted morale, and this small Taiyuan city actually dragged on for more than 100,000 troops for more than 50 days. Just when Shi Siming was exhausted from gnawing on this hard bone, the most incredible thing happened to him: the Tang army came out from under the rebel camp and killed them unprepared. In the Battle of Taiyuan, Li Guangbi beheaded 70,000 enemy troops, turning the tide of the Tang Dynasty.
The subsequent Battle of Heyang was the most dangerous battle in Li Guangbi's life. Facing Shi Siming, an old opponent with several times more elite soldiers than himself, at this moment, Heyang did not have a strong city like Taiyuan to defend. However, during the battle, Li Guangbi was a pioneer and hid his knife in his boots. He said to the soldiers, "War, danger." I am a three-lord, and I shall not be humiliated by thieves. If nothing is successful, thank the Son of Heaven for self-destruction. The words made the Morale of the Tang Army soar, and they vowed to kill the enemy troops. After a hard battle, the Battle of Heyang was a great victory, the Tang army successfully pinned down Shi Siming's main force, and the safety of Tongguan and Chang'an in the core areas of the Tang Dynasty was also ensured.
After the Anshi Rebellion, Li Guangbi was promoted as the "first in Zhongxing" for his military achievements, and was given iron coupons, a famous Tibetan Temple, and a portrait of Ling Yan Pavilion.
Fourth, the evening scene is desolate
Since the Tang Dynasty, tang Xuanzong's later years, the situation of adultery has not changed, Li Guangbi is a straight man, will not mediate with the adulterers; in addition, when Li Guangbi has been fighting outside for many years, the orders of the Son of Heaven are not accepted, and the traitors are scolded when they say scolding, so they are hated by the villains. There have always been rumors circulating in the court that Li Guangbi wanted to rebel, and Li Guangbi usually fought on the front foot, and the court on the back foot came to dismantle the stage and transfer his generals away. Seeing this, Li Guangbi became more and more sad and indignant, and he fell ill two months after the end of the Anshi Rebellion.
The man who saved the Tang Dynasty from the fall of the Tang Dynasty did not die on the battlefield in the end, but died in the mouth of the adulterous people. lamentable! Alas!