In fact, the Yang family has passed on the real ability for three generations, and the other descendants are unknown, and there is no record in the official history, which is completely in line with the proverb "rich but three generations".
The first generation of Yang generals - Yang Ye
The Yang family general is to praise the famous general Yang Ye in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, and his family is full of loyalty and martyrdom, and the deeds of defending the family and the country. And in history, Yang Ye is indeed a person.
Yang Ye was strong in martial arts when he was a teenager, liked hunting, was proficient in horseback riding and archery, and hunted more prey than others. Yang Ye has followed Liu Chong, the ancestor of the Northern Han Dynasty, since he was a child, Liu Chong also used him very much, and made many military exploits, and the Chinese gave him the nickname "Invincible", and Liu Chong also gave Yang Ye the surname Liu to show his glory.
Yang Ye, a native of Taiyuan. Father's letter, for the history of Hanlin Prefecture. He is good at riding and shooting, good at hunting, and has twice as many gains. He said: "I will use soldiers as generals in the future, and I will also use eagles and dogs to chase pheasants and rabbits." "Liu Chong, the weak crown, is known for his courage in order to defend the commander. Tired of moving to the Jianxiong Army, repeatedly made military exploits, and the people of the country were called "invincible". History of the Song Dynasty
In 968 AD, it was the Song Dynasty that was engaged in a war of unification, and the Northern Han Dynasty was of course the target of the Song Dynasty's attack. Liu Jiyuan, the successor emperor of the Northern Han Dynasty, asked Yang Ye (Liu Jiye) and Feng Jinke to lead troops to defend the Baigu Valley and defend against the Song army. In the second year, Zhao Guangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, drove his own expedition, and Yang Ye fled back to Taiyuan because he was outnumbered. Liu Jiyuan angrily dismissed Yang Ye's military power. The Song army surrounded Taiyuan, Yang Ye and others attacked several times, but they did not defeat the Song army, and later because the Liao State sent troops to help, the Northern Song Dynasty withdrew.
In 979, Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty conquered the Northern Han Dynasty, the army pressed the border, and Liu Jiyuan of the Northern Han Dynasty surrendered. But Yang Ye still held on to the city, Taizong always heard that Yang Ye was a famous general, so he wanted to recruit him, and Taizong asked Liu Jiyuan to persuade him to surrender. So Yang Ye surrendered, because Yang Ye was familiar with the situation at the border and was reused by Taizong to resist the Liao army.
In the fifth year of the Taiping Rejuvenation of the Kingdom, Liao Jingzong sent 100,000 troops to attack Yanmen Pass, Yang Ye personally led his troops to go around behind the Liao soldiers, and Pan Mei (that is, Pan Renmei in the novel) flanked the Liao army before and after, and won a complete victory. Because of this, Yang Ye was promoted to Yunzhou Observer. Since this battle, the Liao army was very jealous of Yang Ye's prestige, and in order to get rid of Yang Ye, he also sent spies to write a letter to secretly slander Yang Ye, but Song Taizong trusted him very much and did not believe these slanders at all.
In the third year of Yongxi, Song Taizong wanted to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun, so he sent two large armies to recover, and the Western Route Army was led by Pan Mei as the main commander, Yang Ye as the deputy marshal, and Wang Yu and Liu Wenyu as the protectors. The armies of all roads successively captured the four prefectures of Yunzhou, Yingzhou, Huanzhou, and Shuozhou, but later the Eastern Route Army was defeated, and the armies of all roads had to retreat.
Song Taizong wanted to withdraw the people of these four states, so he asked Pan Mei and others of the Western Route Army to complete it. However, at this time, the Liao State had already conquered Huanzhou, and Yang Ye made a good suggestion, that is, let the people of Yunzhou come out first, and Yang Ye personally went to Yingzhou to resist the Liao army. Then let the people of Shuozhou come out and enter the Shijie Valley, and then arrange ambushes in the Shijie Valley, so that the people of the three continents can withdraw and complete the task assigned by the emperor.
This guy Wang Yu probably thinks that the Western Route Army is fighting well, so he thinks that there is no need to be so troublesome, we have tens of thousands of elite soldiers, are we still afraid of the Liao army? Just send troops to pick up the people. In other words, Wang Yu felt that he was very powerful and was not afraid of the Liao army, because he had never seen the real elite of the Liao State. Liu Wenyu also agreed with Wang Yu's point of view, but Pan Mei did not speak, and may not object.
Wang Yu also laughed at Yang Ye's title of "invincible", and the angry Yang Ye said that although I am a general, the emperor treats me very well, and I should rush to the front. Yang Ye cried and said to Pan Mei, this operation must be unfavorable to us, but you all think that I am afraid of the Liao army, so I am the vanguard, and pointed to the valley mouth of the Chen family and said, you are here to set up a formation and answer me.
So Yang Ye set off, the result was that Wang Yu saw that Yang Ye had not come back for a long time, so he felt that Yang Ye had won the battle and ran away the Liao army, Wang Yu was afraid that Yang Ye would rob the credit, so he left the valley directly, Pan Mei wanted to stop it, but it was unsuccessful, so Pan Mei also left the valley. Later, when I heard that Yang Ye was defeated, I ran away.
From Yin to Si, Yu made people climb to the Tuoluo platform to look at it, thinking that the Khitan was defeated, and wanted to fight for its merits, that is, to lead the troops out of the valley. Beauty can't be controlled, but it is twenty miles southwest of the Jiaohe River. When Russia heard of the defeat, the soldiers left. Karmic warfare, from noon to dusk, fruit to the valley. Seeing that there was no one, he immediately mourned, and then led the corporal to fight, and his body was wounded by dozens of wounds, and the soldiers were exhausted, and the industry was still stabbed by dozens of hundreds of people. The horse was seriously injured and could not enter, so it was captured by the Khitan, and his son Yanyu was also killed. History of the Song Dynasty
And after Yang Ye finished the battle with the Liao army, he returned to the mouth of Chenjia Valley, and when he saw that there was no one, he thought that it was over. In the end, Yang Ye's son Yang Yanyu was killed in battle, and Yang Ye killed hundreds of Liao soldiers and was captured. Yang Ye was grateful for Taizong's kindness and died of hunger strike for three days. Taizong knew everything and was moved by Yang Yejing's deeds of serving the country loyally. Posthumously presented as a lieutenant and an envoy of the Datong Army, and gave his family a thousand horses of cloth and a thousand stones of grain. Others like Pan Mei were punished.
The second generation of Yang family generals - Yang Yanzhao
Yang Yanzhao is the eldest son of Yang Ye and the prototype of Yang Liulang, because the Liao people think that the sixth main town in the Big Dipper is in the north of Youyan, and because Yang Yanzhao is very powerful, he has attacked the Liao army several times, and the Liao people regard him as the Liulang Xingjun descending to earth, so he is called Yang Liulang.
Yang Yanzhao has been silent since he was a child, but he likes things like marching and fighting, and his father Yang Ye said that this child is like me. Every time Yang Ye fights, he takes Yang Yanzhao with him. Slowly, Yang Yanzhao grew into a real general.
After Yang Ye's death, Yang Yanzhao inherited Yang Ye's career and continued to defend the Great Song Dynasty. Yang Yanzhao has a high prestige in the army, every time he gets a reward, he distributes it to the soldiers, and he also cares about the lives of the soldiers, so his subordinates love him very much and are willing to work for him.
In 999 AD, Yang Yanzhao was in Suicheng at that time, and the Liao army attacked and surrounded it for several days, because the city was small and did not have too much preparation. Empress Dowager Xiao of Liao personally commanded the battle, and Yang Yanzhao organized all the forces in the city to defend the city, and splashed water on the city wall at night to freeze to resist the Liao army. In the end, because the icy city wall was too slippery, the Liao army retreated. Song Zhenzong was very happy, and Yang Yanzhao was promoted to assassin history.
Once, Song Zhenzong summoned Yang Yanzhao to the emperor's camp to inquire about the border situation, and Yang Yanzhao was able to answer fluently. So Song Zhenzong was very happy and said to the people: "Yang Yanzhao's father Yang Ye was a famous general in the previous dynasty, Yang Yanzhao led the army to protect the border fortress, and he has his father's legacy, which is worthy of praise." ”
During the period of Yang Yanzhao, the Song Dynasty was in the period of defending the Liao State and rarely took the initiative to attack, but Yang Yanzhao guarded the border and made great contributions, and Song Zhenzong always trusted him.
In the seventh year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1014), Yang Yanzhao died at the age of fifty-seven. In addition to Yan Zhao and Yan Yu, Yang Ye's sons also have Yanpu, Yanxun, Yanhuan, Yangui and Yanbin, but the rest of the official history is not famous.
The third generation of Yang generals - Yang Wenguang
Yang Wenguang is the son of Yang Zongbao and Mu Guiying in the romance, and is the grandson of Yang Yanzhao, but in fact he is the son of Yang Yanzhao.
Yang Wenguang once begged the thief Zhang Hai for meritorious service and awarded it to Dianzhi. Later, he met Fan Zhongyan, who pacified Shaanxi, and Fan Zhongyan found that Yang Wenguang was very talented during the conversation, so he took him with him. Di Qing went south to Guangxi, and Yang Wenguang followed.
Later, after Song Yingzong thought that Yang Wenguang was a famous general, he was sent to resist the Western Xia soldiers, and also made some military exploits, and was appointed by the emperor as the deputy head of the Jingzhou Zhenrong Army and the Dingzhou Road, and moved to the army to be the Marquis of Yu.
When Yang Wenguang was in his seventies, there was a dispute between the Liao State and the Song Dynasty over the boundary division of Daizhou, and Yang Wenguang offered a good strategy at this time, but before the court could have a letter, Yang Wenguang died.
Yang Wenguang's exploits were much worse than those of his father and grandfather, because at this time, the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty negotiated peace, and there were basically no major battles, and there were also some small-scale wars with the Western Xia. Therefore, although Yang Wenguang wanted to serve the country and recover the sixteen states of Yanyun, there was no such opportunity, and the Northern Song Dynasty also emphasized literature over military force, and slowly degraded the generals. So much so that the "Jingkang Shame" happened later, which was decades later.
In the official history, the Yang family in the future basically never had a general who could fight well.