Speaking of Li Ji, his popularity among the people is far less than that of "Xu Maogong", and the bull-nosed old Taoist military master in the novel is based on him.
Li Ji is the founding father of the Tang Dynasty and the second military god of the Tang Dynasty after Li Jing.
In the entire Tang Dynasty, Li Jing was the only one who could overpower Li Ji, and even in the entire history of famous generals in ancient China, Li Ji was also a rare opponent.
Because of this, Li Ji was selected as one of the "Ten Philosophers of Wumiao".
One
Here is a brief explanation of the "Ten Philosophers of Wumiao", which refers to ten particularly famous military strategists in Chinese history, namely Bai Qi, Han Xin, Zhuge Liang, Li Jing, Li Ji, Zhang Liang, Tian Sui Tho, Sun Wu, Wu Qi, and Le Yi.
In the nineteenth year of Kaiyuan (731), it was the middle of the "Kaiyuan Dynasty", and Tang Xuanzong felt that since it was a prosperous era, there should be a prosperous atmosphere; In the past, there was only a Confucian Temple without a martial arts temple, and he didn't like this kind of thing that emphasized literature and light martial arts.
Therefore, Tang Xuanzong ordered the establishment of a martial temple, with Jiang Ziya of the Zhou Dynasty as the main sacrifice, and Zhang Liang, the Marquis of the Han Dynasty, as a worthy offering, and ten famous generals from the past dynasties. And the ten people who accompanied the sacrifice were what later generations called the "Ten Philosophers of the Martial Temple".
If you want to be selected as a famous general of the "Ten Philosophers of Wumiao", the military level must be very high, which is the basic threshold; In addition, it is not only necessary to be able to fight, but also to make certain contributions in the field of military development, either by putting forward some new military ideas or by leaving important military works.
The most important thing is that the selected people must be loyal and good generals, and those rebels and thieves cannot be selected no matter how powerful they are.
According to these three conditions, the entire Datang was also selected by Li Jing and Li Ji.
Needless to say, Li Jing's name is needless to say, everyone who has watched "Journey to the West" or "Fengshen Bang" knows him, the famous Tota Li Tianwang, Nezha's father.
In the official history, Li Jing is also a super fierce man, and it is not an exaggeration to call him the first military god of the Tang Dynasty. Not only is he the first in the record, but his fighting style is also the "fastest"!
Pingxiao Milling, Dingfu Gongyi, Destroying the Eastern Turks, and Sweeping Tuyuhun Basically, before the enemy could react, Li Jing's men and horses had already been killed, and the battle was almost over, and the rest of the finishing work was left for the younger brother to do, and Li Jing returned to the dynasty with the army.
Li Jing has been fighting all his life, and there have been countless battles of all sizes, but none of them have been defeated.
Two
Li Ji is a generation younger than Li Jing, although he is not as fierce as Li Jing, he can also fight, and he has time to catch up with Li Jing.
If it is said that Li Jing is the ceiling of the military circles of Wude and Zhenguan; Then, Li Ji is the ceiling of the military circle between Zhenguan and Gaozong Dynasty in the later period.
After Li Jing, the military system of the Tang Dynasty was basically based on Li Ji. Under the command of Li Ji, the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Western Turks and Goguryeo successively, resulting in the territory reaching the largest territory in the Tang Dynasty.
During the Wude period, Li Ji mainly existed as a deputy, and he followed Li Shimin all the way to fight Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, Ping Song King Kong, Liu Heimin, etc., as well as rebellions such as Ping Xu Yuanlang and Fu Gongyi.
At the beginning of Zhenguan, Li Ji turned on the furious mode and followed Li Jing's pace all the way.
In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630), Li Ji was still Li Jing's deputy when he destroyed the Eastern Turks; By the fifteenth year of Zhenguan (641), Li Ji was already able to lead the army to defeat Xue Yantuo alone.
In the twentieth year of Zhenguan (646), Li Ji led his army to destroy Xue Yantuo, and the north has been stable since then.
In the first year of the reign of Emperor Gojong (668), Li Ji led his army to destroy Goguryeo. This is something that Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of Tang have always wanted to do, but they can't do it.
These two great achievements make Li Ji's record comparable to Li Jing.
In terms of strategy and victory rate, as well as the influence of military concepts on later generations, Li Ji was slightly weaker than Li Jing; However, Li Ji's military ability is also a rare opponent in the history of ancient famous generals.
Three
In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan (641), Li Ji used only 6,000 cavalry in Mobei and defeated Xue Yantuo's 100,000 iron cavalry.
At that time, the Tang army's war horses were mostly shot to death, Li Ji still calmly commanded under the disadvantage, ordered all the soldiers to dismount to form an infantry phalanx, and the commander went straight forward to attack the enemy, and sent Xue Wanche to surround the rear, and Xue Yantuo's army soon collapsed.
In this battle, the enemy army was defeated, more than 3,000 people were beheaded, and more than 50,000 men and 15,000 horses were captured.
is also the battle of Mobei, what are the records of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty?
According to the "Historical Records": "In the spring of the fourth year of Yuanzhen, the general Qing and the hussar general were ordered to go to the sick general with 50,000 cavalry, and the infantry turned into hundreds of thousands"
Good guys, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing took 100,000 cavalry and hundreds of thousands of infantry to Mobei at once, and this treatment made Li Ji drool when he saw it.
What about the final results?
"There are 443 out of 70,000 and 70,000 in the execution, and the division rate is reduced by three", "The two armies are out of the fortress, and there are 140,000 horses and private horses." There were less than 30,000 re-entrants. ”
To put it simply, more than 70,000 enemy troops were killed and captured, and "three-tenths" of the losses were lost on their own side, that is, at least 70,000 infantry were lost, cavalry was lost about 30,000, and 110,000 war horses were lost.
Regardless of other factors, judging from the record alone, Li Ji crushed the two!
You must know that among Li Ji's 6,000 cavalry, the real Tang cavalry is only 1,200, and the rest of the cavalry is pieced together from the surrendered Turkic army; And Wei and Huo have 100,000 cavalry, but they are the elite of the Western Han Dynasty.
This is not the end, Li Ji finally completed the destruction of Xue Yantuo in Yudujun Mountain (now Hangai Mountain, Mongolia), beheaded more than 5,000 people before and after, captured more than 30,000 men and women, and finally included Mobei into the Chinese territory. This achievement is beyond the reach of Wei Huo and the others.
After comparing the predecessors, let's compare with the future generations.
Xu Da, the first god of war in the Ming Dynasty, failed to clear Mobei throughout his life.
In the first battle of Lingbei, Xu Da led an army of 150,000 to go out in a mighty way, but he fell into Wang Baobao's plan to lure the enemy into depth, resulting in more than 10,000 casualties of the Ming army. You must know that in this battle, Wang Baobao's troops were less than 100,000. Later, his son-in-law Zhu Di's five expeditions to Mobei failed to completely eliminate the troubles of the Ming Dynasty's border fortresses.
It can be seen that Li Ji's record is placed in the entire history of ancient famous generals, and there are few opponents.
Four
In addition to his terrifying record, another important reason why Li Jineng was selected as the "Ten Philosophers of Wumiao" was that he was loyal enough.
Li Shimin once said to Li Ji personally: "The public will not live up to Li Mi, how can I be disappointed!" ”
Before Li Ji surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he was Li Mi's right-hand man in Wagangzhai, and Li Mi surrendered to the Tang Dynasty after his defeat to Wang Shichong. At that time, Li Ji was stationed in Liyang and controlled most of Li Mi's territory, and if Li Ji wanted to establish himself as king, he could also become a prince by relying on those territories.
However, Li Ji did not do that, but chose to surrender to the Tang Dynasty with Li Mi. And, the way he surrendered was also peculiar.
Others are eager to bring their territory and surrender together, so that they will have bargaining chips; Li Ji took the initiative to return all the territory to Li Mi, and he surrendered as Li Mi's old minister.
He said to Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, although I am guarding Liyang, it is the territory created by Li Mi, and I should return the territory to him and dispose of it; I can't betray the Lord and be greedy, that's not the work of a great husband.
At that time, Li Yuan praised him for this kind of behavior!
Later, Li Mi died due to rebellion, and others avoided him, but Li Ji still remembered the feelings of his old master and asked for a good burial for him. Li Ji's behavior has earned him a reputation of loyalty for a lifetime.
Li Ji is not only loyal, but also very righteous.
Shan Xiongxin and Li Ji are both founding fathers of Wagangzhai, and the two have long been brothers; It's a pity that each was his own master, Shan Xiongxin followed Wang Shichong, and Li Ji surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.
After Wang Shichong was defeated by Li Shimin, Shan Xiongxin was also captured and sentenced to beheading. Li Ji has been interceding for him, but Li Yuan's murderous intent has been decided.
Before the execution, Li Ji cut off a piece of meat from his thigh, fed it to Shan Xiongxin's mouth and said, "Brother, you can eat it, I will follow you underground." ”
This kind of righteousness is indeed rare!
Five
Because of this, Tang Taizong handed over the responsibility of entrusting orphans to Li Ji; You must know that the Tang Dynasty army at that time was almost respected by Li Ji, and if he remembered a little crooked thinking, it would be enough for Li Zhi to drink a pot.
It can be seen that the three emperors of Li Tang have great trust in him.
Li Ji did not disappoint several emperors, and stood on the emperor's side at the critical moment.
After Gaozong Li Zhi ascended the throne, he gradually found himself a puppet emperor. In the court, they were constrained by the old ministers of Taizong everywhere, and these people were respectful to themselves on the surface, but in fact they only looked at the face of the eldest grandson Wuji.
Back in the harem, Li Zhi found that his queen Wang clan had also fallen to the eldest grandson Wuji group.
In order to regain power from the eldest grandson Wuji, Li Zhi chose to start from the harem. Because the court is already full of people from the eldest grandson Wuji group, the only thing Li Zhi can control is the harem.
Taking the king and queen is the first step for Li Zhi to seize power.
In June of the fifth year of Yonghui (654), Li Zhi wanted to abolish the queen and replace Wu Zetian as the queen on the grounds of "disgusted with victory", but was strongly opposed by the eldest grandson Wuji, Chu Suiliang and other old ministers.
Six
Just when the forces of the two sides were deadlocked, Li Ji, a military representative, stood up and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty's family affairs, why bother asking outsiders. ”
This is tantamount to giving the emperor a reassurance, Li Ji is showing loyalty to the emperor, and he will never wear a pair of pants with the eldest grandson Wuji.
At that time, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were most afraid of the military. If the attitude of the military and the eldest grandson Wuji and others is the same, then once the emperor insists on deposing Wang Liwu, these people can carry out a coup d'état to replace the emperor.
And if the military is on the side of the emperor, the eldest grandson Wuji and others are all civilian officials, and without the support of force, at most they will make trouble in the court, and it will be difficult to get things done.
Therefore, as soon as Li Ji said this, the emperor's heart was relieved of most of it, and the matter of "abolishing Wang Liwu" was completed. It was also because of Li Ji's clear support that Gaozong Li Zhi dared to drastically liquidate the members of the Changsun Wuji group.
In April of the fourth year of Xianqing (659), the eldest grandson Wuji was falsely accused of rebellion, and Gaozong Li Zhi did not even give a chance to defend himself, so he issued an order to take away all his officials and demote him to the governor of Yangzhou. His sons were dismissed from office and exiled to Lingnan as slaves.
A few months later, Gaozong ordered Yuan Gongyu to force the eldest grandson Wuji to adjudicate himself. After the death of the eldest grandson Wuji, the family property was confiscated, and the close relatives were exiled to Lingnan as slaves.
At this point, the struggle between Gaozong Li Zhi and Taizong's old ministers ended with Li Zhi's complete victory and the collapse of the eldest grandson Wuji group. Without the unwavering support of the military's Li Ji, it would have been difficult for Li Zhi to win this struggle.