In the spring of the third year of Wude (620 AD), Song Jingang, the general of the "Dingyang Army", found that he had fallen into a total passivity.
First, the city of Puzhou was finally captured by Qin Wutong, and Wang Xingben fled back to Wang Shichong. Then the Tang army attacked everywhere, and Luzhou, Haozhou, Fenzhou, Xizhou and other places in the rear were facing the comprehensive threat of the Tang army's partial divisions. The reinforcements sent by Song Jingang were all repulsed by the Tang army, and they were exhausted in all directions.
To add insult to injury, the supply line from Taiyuan to the Song Jingang camp was fully harassed by the Tang army. By April 620, Song Jingang's grain route had been completely cut off. The Tang army had even reached the vicinity of Jiexiu, more than 300 miles to the north, and captured the fortress of Zhangnanbao in the valley of the Jiexiu Fen River. Song Jingang could not know for sure whether the Tang army that captured Zhang Nanbao was sent by Li Shimin, or the Tang army that was separated when Li Yuanji and Pei Lin were the commanders. But in any case, there is no shortage of food and grass in the army, and if it drags on any longer, his army is in danger of collapsing.
However, no matter how Song Jingang sent people to provoke, Li Shimin, who lived in Baibi, always refused to fight and could not hold out.
Song Jingang has been fighting for many years, and he has never seen such an obscene style of play. He doesn't fight head-on, and then releases sporadic small troops to intersperse harassment everywhere, like a group of cockroaches that can't be driven away and can't be killed. It seems that it is not Li Erlang in the Baibi camp opposite, but "Li Ermantis"!
On April 14, Song Jingang's army finally ran out of food and grass, and had to order a retreat. I don't know if I don't see it, and I'm shocked when I see it. Behind Song Jingang, there is Tang general Wang Xingmin in Luzhou, Tang general Li Zhongwen in Haozhou, and Tang general Liu Hongji in Xizhou. Song Jingang was also an extremely good general, and knew that retreating was the most dangerous time for the army. When Emperor Yang of Sui conquered Liaodong for the first time, he was attacked during the retreat of the army and almost all the troops were annihilated. Therefore, he prudently arranged the troops behind the break, with the partial general Xunxiang as the rearguard, and the army slowly retreated north.
Song Jingang's concerns were right, Li Shimin's pursuers really came.
When Xunxiang's broken troops arrived in Luzhou, Li Shimin's pursuers finally caught up with them. Li Shimin saw through the ambushes, sneak attacks and other tricks played by the two sides, and the two sides fought fiercely, and Li Shimin broke the search for the face. Li Shimin immediately ordered the whole army to rest for a while, and then continue the pursuit.
This victory was not easy to come by, so since Li Shimin had already attacked, he had to catch up with Song Jingang's main force and let their whole army have no return.
As a result, the Tang army continued to move north from Luzhou and began to pursue. This chase lasted more than 200 miles. Li Shimin's pursuit is just one word: fast. It doesn't matter if the grain, grass and baggage are up quickly, the baggage soldiers take their time, and the main force goes first. The main force continued to move forward, it didn't matter if the infantry couldn't get up quickly, go slowly, but the remaining thousands of cavalry had to move forward as fast as they could. They only have one task, and that is to catch up with Song Jingang's main force, and then completely knock them down.
Li Shimin continued to lead the army all the way north, and when he arrived in the area of Gaobiling, even the experienced veterans under his command were afraid. At this time, the Tang army had gone through a rapid march, and the baggage team had been left far behind; In the middle was a hurried infantry brigade; The cavalry team at the front was led by Li Shimin himself, with Qin Shubao, Cheng Yanjin, Qin Wutong, Zhai Changsun and other cavalry generals, leaving the large army far behind. Because the speed of the infantry and the baggage was limited, the distance between the troops increased.
Everyone is an expert in leading troops to fight, can this situation not make people frightened? The lone army went deep and the enemy rushed forward, this kind of military taboo, Li Shimin made all of them. But Li Shimin didn't seem to care about anything, just took the lead, riding his precious war horse called "special service horse", and walked forward with a clattering of hooves. Liu Hongji, the head of the march, couldn't help it, and grabbed the reins of the "special service horse" and persuaded bitterly: "The king of Qin defeated the enemy army and chased him all the way here, which is already a complete victory, and the credit is enough. Now I have to continue to go deeper, and I ask King Qin to take care of his body! Moreover, the soldiers were already hungry and tired, and they really couldn't go any further, so they asked King Qin to hold their troops for now, and wait until the grain and grass and the large army behind them followed, and it was not too late to pursue. ”
Liu Hongji said it euphemistically, but he only advised Li Shimin to cherish his body, but in fact he was saying that he should cherish the lives of the officers and men of the whole army. If anything happens to you, you are in danger of being wiped out.
Li Shimin also heard Liu Hongji's meaning, but he was not moved at all, and replied: "Song Jingang was defeated this time, and the army's morale was weakened, and we waited for a year to have an opportunity. Now there are some feats, which are indeed not easy to come by, but this opportunity in front of us is even more difficult to seize if we miss it. Therefore, we must seize this opportunity. If we stop here and don't leave, then they will come to their senses and prepare a defensive strategy, and then it will be too late for us to try to fight again. After a pause, he continued, "Shimin did his best, even if he was martyred this time, it would not be a pity, how could he care about his own body? He was full of pride, but he didn't care at all whether it would be taboo to talk about martyrdom at this time, and he instigated the reins, and the "special service horse" carried Li Shimin forward and galloped away.
Although the soldiers were indeed hungry and tired, they saw that the King of Qin was sharing weal and sorrow with them, and they were starving, so everyone did not dare to mention this matter. The cavalry continued to move forward, plunging headlong into the valley of sparrows and rats, which was tens of miles long.
What Li Shimin is worried about is the Sparrow Mouse Valley that leads to Jiexiu. When they raised troops from Taiyuan and attacked Song Laosheng in Huoyi, Li Shimin once led the right army through this Bird Mouse Valley. A few months ago, Li Zhongwen was also defeated by the "Dingyang Army" in the Valley of Birds. This valley is so steep that only birds and badgers can climb up the mountain, hence the name. In case Song Jingang rested and blocked the attack in the Bird Mouse Valley, then the Tang army would face a serious threat.
Sure enough, the Sparrow Mouse Valley already had a garrison arranged by Song Jingang. However, these defenders were all defeated soldiers who had just suffered defeat, and their morale was not high, and they didn't expect the Tang army to arrive here so quickly, and they had no fighting spirit at all for a while. The iron cavalry under Li Shimin's command wiped them out effortlessly. Before and after, in a whole day, they encountered eight defenders in the Bird Mouse Valley, all of which were defeated one by one by Li Shimin and led by the cavalry, killing and capturing tens of thousands of enemy soldiers. Li Shimin arranged for a small number of soldiers to take care of it, waiting for the large army behind to receive it, and then continued to rush forward.
Eight battles a day, plus long marches, and by the time they rested at night, the soldiers were all so tired that they almost collapsed. Li Shimin hadn't eaten for two days, and so did the other soldiers. The whole army searched everywhere for food, searched the neighborhood, and found only one sheep.
A sheep can't be more, and war horses are the most important thing nowadays, and they can't be eaten. So, Li Shimin ordered the whole army to share the sheep together. Thousands of Tang troops, each of whom shared a small piece of mutton.
But this piece of mutton may be the most fragrant and delicious meat that the soldiers have ever eaten in their lives.
Knock, knock, knock, the drum sounded, and it turned out to be Li Shimin, the king of Qin, who played the instrument. Under the starry sky, accompanied by a bonfire, Li Shimin sang a war song loudly, the song was loud, passionate and high-pitched. The soldiers recalled the achievements of this day, remembered the scene when King Qin took the lead and instantly overwhelmed the enemy formation, and their pride and ambition couldn't help but fill their chests again, and they couldn't help but follow suit. The original hunger pang vanished, and the sonorous and powerful battle song resounded throughout the valley.
Many years later, Li Shimin asked people to fill in new words for this war song, and it became the famous "King Qin Breaking Array Music". Whenever this song is played, it reminds people of the era when they rode the wind and waves, when Li Shimin, the king of Qin, led thousands of people to rush forward and break the enemy in one fell swoop. In the end, this song spread all over the world, from Dongying Island to Tianzhu, India, all of them are singing this song.
Li Shimin represents the unparalleled world spirit on horseback!
The next day, Li Shimin's thousands of cavalry finally walked out of the Bird Mouse Valley and arrived outside the west gate of Jiexiu City, where Song Jin had just been stationed not long ago.
Song Jingang still had 20,000 soldiers in Jiexiu City, but he never expected that Li Shimin was already in the city at this time. At this moment, Song Jingang had no way to retreat, so he decided to fight Li Shimin to the death. immediately went out of the city and set up a long snake formation outside the west gate, and he was ready to give Li Shimin a head-on attack.
Li Shimin rested outside the city for a while, and when the soldiers who had fallen behind caught up a little, he began to organize an attack. Li Shiyun, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yanjin and others attacked the north, and Zhai Changsun and Qin Wutong attacked the south. The battle began, Song Jingang's battle array advanced rapidly, while the Tang army retreated slightly and gradually, and gradually, the distance between the "Dingyang Army" and Jiexiu City increased. At this time, the elite cavalry led by Li Shimin personally returned to the rear of the "Dingyang Army" and stormed the rear army of Song Jingang. Song Jingang's whole army was attacked by the enemy, so he was defeated again. Song Jingang fled on horseback, and did not even enter Jiexiu City, so he went to Taiyuan City.
In Jiexiu City, there were only the left-behind troops of Wei Chi Jingde and Xunxiang.
But Li Shimin still ignored Jiexiu City, and didn't even want a supply line, he bypassed the city and continued to pursue Song Jingang with the cavalry around him who could still stand up. The task of occupying Jiexiu City was handed over to Li Daozong, the prince of Luoyang County, and Yu Wenshi, who arrived later. Soon after, Wei Chi Jingde and Xun Xiang surrendered with Jiexiu City and Yong'an City, but this is all for later.
After chasing for dozens of miles, Li Shimin's pursuing force arrived at Zhang Nanbao. They were surprised to find that the banner of the Tang Dynasty was actually flying above this fortress. It turned out that the guards Fan Botong and Zhang Dezheng were originally the defenders of Haozhou, and after the defeat of Li Yuanji, Pei Lin and other troops, they held on to it alone. For a whole year, they repelled the "Dingyang Army" that came to besiege them, and by the way, they also hijacked several grain convoys of the "Dingyang Army", which played an important role in harassing the enemy's rear.
This is really good news, you must know that Li Shimin's army has not eaten properly for three or four days. So, Li Shimin and others shouted under the castle for the defenders to open the door.
But in the eyes of the defenders, this group of cavalry, who had experienced days of bloody battles, was ragged and covered in blood, and it was completely impossible to see whose army it was.
"I'm Li Shimin, King of Qin, let us in!" Li Shimin said.
However, this young man, who had not removed his armor for several days, and whose face was covered in filthy blood and dust, no one could tell who he really was. Li Shimin had no choice but to take off his helmet and show his identity to the castle.
"It's really King Qin!" Someone recognized Li Shimin's appearance, and Zhang Nanbao cheered when he boarded. After a year of perseverance, he finally waited for the rescue of the Tang army, and it was the King of Qin who came in person. Countless defenders wept with joy, and the gates of the castle were immediately open to Li Shimin.
After Li Shimin entered the city, he was also very moved when he saw the joyful appearance of the Tang soldiers in the city. The retinue then told the defenders that the King of Qin had not eaten for several days, so the defenders in the city hurriedly prepared. However, Zhang Nanbao was also in difficult conditions at this time, and the best things they came up with were only coarse rice and cloudy wine. But despite this, Li Shimin and the soldiers who came with him to pursue the cavalry were very happy.
After eating all the corn in one meal, the army continued to go north non-stop, and the land occupied by the "Dingyang Army" in the past six months vowed to spit it out as it was!
(Excerpted from "The History of the Tang Dynasty that Becomes Addicted to Reading a Page", Fan Xiyuan/Author, Hualing Publishing House/Publishing)