In the history of the mainland, many feudal emperors liked to flaunt their achievements with martial arts.
"Tang Zong" refers to Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who began his military career at the age of 16, and at the age of 18 he and his father and brother raised troops in Jinyang, conquered the east and west, ended the turbulent times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and laid the foundation of the Tang Dynasty for nearly 300 years. After ascending the throne, Tang Taizong frequently used troops against the surrounding tribes, expanded the territory, and subdued the Quartet, so that the influence of the Tang Dynasty reached the peak of the feudal era.
Li Shimin fought countless battles in his life, rarely defeated, but in his later years, he failed to complete the conquest in a crusade against Goryeo. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was in its prime, and the emperor of the Hundred Wars, Li Shimin, was the emperor himself, so why couldn't he take Goryeo, a small country on the northeastern border?
1. The battle of Tang Taizong's personal expedition to Goryeo
1. The background of the war
Tang Goryeo, also known as Goguryeo, was an ancient frontier regime that straddled northeastern China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Since the Han Dynasty, the Goryeo regime has been associated with the Central Plains regime. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the king of Goryeo, Gao Jianwu, sent an envoy to congratulate him and accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty, thus continuing the good-neighborly and friendly relations for more than 20 years. In 642 A.D., the powerful minister of Goryeo, Gai Suwen, killed the monarch and set up Gozang as the king, but in fact, he was the sole dictatorship and oversaw the affairs of the country.
The following year, Tang Taichang Cheng Deng Su returned from an envoy to Goryeo, reported the incident in Goryeo to Taejong, and judged that Goryeo had the intention of resisting the Tang Dynasty, and suggested that additional soldiers be sent on the border to coerce Goryeo. However, Tang Taizong did not take it seriously, and still hoped to bring Goryeo to its knees through indoctrination.
At that time, there were three forces on the Korean Peninsula, Goryeo, Silla, and Baekje, of which Silla was a big fan of the Tang Dynasty. Goryeo, on the other hand, united with Baekje to attack Silla and occupy more than 40 cities. Silla went to Chang'an for help, complaining that Silla's passage to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty had been blocked by Goryeo.
At first, Tang Taizong also wanted to calm things down, and sent an envoy to Goryeo, hoping to prevent Goryeo from continuing to attack Silla through diplomatic means. Who knew that Gai Suwen did not appreciate it and rejected the messenger in one bite. When Tang Taizong learned of this, he was furious, scolded Gai Suwen for rebelling against the country, and decided to conquer Goryeo.
2. The beginning of a bamboo
In July 644, Taizong ordered Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, to be the vanguard and led his troops to attack Liaodong, and four months later ordered Zhang Liang, Li Tao, and Li Daozong to recruit 100,000 soldiers and march into Goryeo. In February of the following year, Taizong personally ordered the army in Luoyang and embarked on a journey. At the beginning, the Tang army progressed very smoothly, and good news from all walks of life was frequent.
First, Zhang Jian crossed the Liaoshui River and engaged the Goryeo soldiers and beheaded thousands, Zhang Liang led the navy to cross the sea from Donglai and capture the city of Beisha (present-day Dalian), Li Tao captured the city of Gaimu (present-day Fushun) and then besieged the city of Liaodong, while Li Daozong defeated the reinforcements from Goryeo to save Liaodong. Erli later joined forces with Taizong's army and captured Liaodong City.
After conquering Baekam Fortress (present-day Liaoyang), the Tang army encircled Anseongseong (present-day Ansan), an important town in Goryeo, on three sides. On the grounds that Anshi was strong and prominent, and the soldiers were well fed, Taizong proposed to bypass Anshi and attack the stronghold of its rear supply to build Anseong. However, Li Tao and other generals resolutely did not agree to take the risk on the grounds that the holy car was in danger. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Tang soldiers and Anshi were under the city, and a big war was about to break out.
3. The tragic offensive and defensive battle of Anshi City
After surrounding Anshi, the Tang army soon launched an offensive. Flying stone cars, ladders, nest cars and other large and small siege equipment are all used. The Goryeo people in Anshi City were also quite tenacious, the soldiers came to block, the water came to cover the earth, and the city gate was blocked with a wooden fence when it was broken, desperately resisting the attack of the Tang army.
Li Shimin saw that the long-term attack was fruitless, so he released cruel words, threatening to bury the men in the city alive if he captured Anshi. In this way, everyone in Anshi City is in danger, and everyone is striving to be the first, and they are persevering day and night. In this way, the battle situation is extremely tragic.
There was no progress in the siege of the city in the past few days, and Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, thought of a way to send people to build a large earthen platform in the southeast of the city, and constantly increased the height. When the people of Anshi saw it, they also followed the high city wall. The two sides competed with each other, and after the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people for two months, the earth platform was piled up as high as a hill, and standing on the top of the hill you could spy on the situation in the city.
Li Daozong was afraid of a sneak attack by the enemy, so he specially arranged a guard to guard the top of the mountain. Unexpectedly, one night, the earth mountain suddenly collapsed, and the fallen earth and stone side overwhelmed the city wall. This was originally a great opportunity for the Tang army to enter the city, but the leader of the defenders on Tushan was not at his post that night, and the soldiers did not know what to do, but were rushed out of the gap by the Goryeo defenders and captured Tushan.
Later, the Goryeo soldiers built Tusan and the city wall together, dug a trench to defend it, and Tusan became a fortress in Anseongseong.
When Li Shimin received the news that Tushan had been captured, he was furious like thunder, first beheaded the leader who had left his post without permission, and then organized all the soldiers to launch a fierce attack on Tushan in an attempt to recapture this strategic commanding height. Helplessly, the Goryeo people bravely defended it, and there was a response from the city, and the Tang army launched an attack for three days in a row, but it failed to take it. As a result, the stalemate in the offensive and defensive battles gradually became unfavorable to the Tang army.
At this time, it is approaching the cold winter, the land of Liaodong is frozen early, the grass and trees are withering, the river is frozen, and the grain and grass are about to run out, and it is difficult for people and horses to stay for a long time. Therefore, Tang Taizong still rationally decided to return to the dynasty, ending this expedition that could not complete the strategic intention for the only time in his life.
2. The reason why Li Shimin failed to destroy Goryeo
1. Arrogance, self-confidence or conceit
Taizong's expedition to Goryeo was unfavorable, and the cost was heavy, and the people and money were lost. The class teacher sighed: "If Wei Zheng is here, I will do this evil!" In fact, before the war, ministers such as Li Daliang, Chu Suiliang, and Fang Xuanling all tried their best to dissuade Taizong from conquering Goryeo or not to conquer it himself. However, Taizong's insistence on his own views and his determination to go on the expedition himself are closely related to the confidence he has formed over the years in the victories he and the Tang Dynasty army have accumulated.
A few days after Taizong first ascended the throne, the Turkic army came towards Chang'an to kill the generals. And Li Shimin was not afraid, dressed in gold armor to meet the enemy at the Weishui Bridge in person, and his righteous and stern words shocked Jieli Khan and his 200,000 troops. During the Zhenguan period, the Tang Dynasty army defeated the Eastern Turkic State, subdued the Tuyuhun State, exterminated Gaochang and Xue Yantuo, and defeated Tubo. The strong soldiers made Siyi surrender, and also allowed Taizong to obtain the honorific title of "Heavenly Khan".
Therefore, in the face of the conquest of Goryeo, Taizong had enough confidence not to listen to dissuasion and insisted on starting a war. So this proud army of the Tang Dynasty, under the personal leadership of Taizong, embarked on the road of the Eastern Expedition. The light enemy made them not pay enough attention to the Koreans, thinking that they could easily win a quick victory with their strong military strength, and they never thought that they would hit a nail in Anshi City and return to their division.
2. Pro-conscription, a double-edged sword
Tang Taizong's expedition to Goryeo this time used several large armies to advance by sea and land, and the generals of each route army had quite high prestige, so it was indeed not easy to get them to fight together. And the emperor's personal expedition gave all the armies a backbone, and it was much easier to coordinate.
Since ancient times, the monarch's personal conquest can often boost morale, and Li Shimin's personal conquest carried out his own concept of benevolent government into this military operation. He learned the lessons of the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Goryeo, streamlined the number of troops, and changed conscription and conscription to conscription and conscription. This has eased the burden on the population, and many people have volunteered to join the army or join the army to show their support. Li Shimin also often came to the wounded barracks to express his condolences to the wounded soldiers and personally inquired about their resettlement.
He also personally sucked the blood of Li Simo, who was shot by a crossbow arrow in the Battle of White Rock City. When all the soldiers heard this, they were all moved, so they were able to move forward bravely on the battlefield. This is also confirmed by the momentum of the Tang army's winning streak in the early days.
But there are also drawbacks to pro-recruitment. Li Tao was originally a resourceful and decisive general, and when he fought the Turks and Xue Yantuo, he often took risks and won by surprise. But this time with the emperor, the situation was very different. Victory in the war was the ultimate goal, but it was more important than ensuring the emperor's safety.
Therefore, when Li Shimin proposed to cross Anshi to fight Jian'an, he resolutely opposed it, because Anshi was in the north, Jian'an was in the south, and the grain and grass supply of the Tang army was in Liaodong, and the risk was going further and further, once the grain route was blocked by the Goryeo army in Anshi, the emperor would fall into a dilemma.
It is precisely because of the holy driver's personal expedition that the generals are jealous of the rat and make decisions forward-looking. Their outstanding military talents were not well displayed, and in the end, they adopted a strategic policy of steadily attacking and breaking through one by one, leaving hundreds of thousands of troops helpless in the face of the dangerous fortresses of Goryeo.
3. Goryeo is far away, the city is dangerous, and the people are good at guarding
Long before Taizong's personal expedition to Goryeo, he summoned Zheng Yuanxuan, the former assassin of Sui Yizhou, who had already become a minister, because Zheng Yuanxuan had conquered Goryeo with Emperor Yang of Sui, and came to him to inquire about the situation of the enemy country.
At that time, Zheng Yuanxuan advised Taizong: "Liaodong is far away, grain transportation is difficult, and the Goryeo people are good at defending the city, so it is difficult to capture it quickly. "In ancient times, whenever there was a large-scale military operation, logistics support was the key to victory, and the Tang army marched to Goryeo with hundreds of thousands of people, which required a large amount of grain and grass materials for transshipment.
But at that time, the transportation was far less convenient than it is now, and ensuring the smooth transportation of thousands of miles became a major problem for the Tang army. In view of this, a quick victory is the battle plan of the Tang Army in this battle.
However, defending the city is the strong point of the Goryeo people, and Anshi is the strongest garrison city in Goryeo, with deep ditches and high walls, and strong barriers. In addition, the fighting will of the people of Anshi is very tenacious, especially after Li Shimin threatened to slaughter the city, everyone in the city has the determination to die, and vows to live and die with the city.
not only resisted the Tang army's wave after wave of attacks, but also organized commandos to take advantage of the night to attack the Tang camp from time to time. The battle for Tushan is a good example. The invincible Tang army, even with the aid of the most advanced siege equipment of the seventh century, failed to shake the towering walls of Anshi and the unwavering confidence of the defenders.
As a result, the development of the war gradually deviated from the Tang army's plan for a quick victory, and fell into a stalemate, and with the onset of the cold winter, the supply became more and more difficult. Li Shimin's choice to withdraw from the army at this time was also a helpless move.
postscript
After Emperor Taejong returned to China, although he was still angry about this war, he also regained his understanding of the strength of Goryeo, and did not launch a large-scale crusade, but listened to the advice of his subordinates and sent a small force to attack Goryeo during the busy agricultural season, disrupting its normal production order. And Tang Gaozong has also been implementing this strategic deployment since he succeeded to the throne.
He also attacked the weak Baekje, an ally of Goryeo, in order to cut off its minions, and in 663 AD, Baekje was wiped out by the Tang army. In 666 AD, Gai Suwen died, and his three sons fought for power and profit, and there was a dispute between Xiao Qiang.
The eldest son, the boy, defected to the Tang Dynasty and led the Tang army to attack his younger brother. The Tang Dynasty took advantage of the civil strife in Goryeo and Silla to attack together, and finally pacified Goryeo. Tang Gaozong, whether it is civil governance or martial arts, is not as good as his father, but he can complete Li Shimin's unfinished business, history has given us such a revelation: among the factors that promote the development of the historical process, timing is more important than strength.