In the magnificent history of the late Sui Dynasty, the failure of the Dou Jiande clique was particularly regrettable. Many people may wonder that the establishment of the Tang Dynasty was a great thing for Chinese history, and what pity was there about Dou Jiande's failure?
It was a pity for Dou Jiande, mainly because Dou was the most benevolent monarch in the world at that time, and the Hebei and Shandong areas under his rule had already formed a chaotic world. In particular, the "King of Xia" Dou Jiande repeatedly released the prisoners of Li Tang's clique, and after he was captured by Li Shimin, he was quickly taken to Chang'an and killed. At that time, the broad masses of the people in Hebei and Shandong generally cried out and were indignant about the treatment dou Jiande had received. Later, after Dou Jiande's troops launched a rebellion against Liu Heimin, they received a hundred responses, which also brought the greatest setback to Li Tang's unification war, and the fierce generals Luo Shixin and Li Daoxuan, who were known as "ten thousand enemies", fell under Liu Heimin's butcher's knife.
Why is Dou Jiande so popular?
The first is trustworthiness. As the saying goes, "the people cannot stand without faith", And Dou Jiande's integrity is not disguised, but innate. When he was a teenager, he "took quite a promise to do things", as long as he said and agreed to the things, he would definitely do it, and he would never break the contract, which was unanimously praised by the township.
The second is generosity. When he was young, some relatives in the township died and there was no money for burial. Dou Jiande was working in the fields, and when he heard about this, he immediately led the cattle to the market and sold them, sending money to the rescue. Cultivating cattle is the most important property of farmers, and Dou Jiande is so selfless, which makes the villagers very moved. Later, Dou Jiande's father passed away, and thousands of people spontaneously came to the funeral in the township, and Dou Jiande politely declined the property sent by the townspeople.
After he became the leader of the rebel army, the spoils obtained in each battle were distributed according to military merit as a reward, and he did not keep any of them, and he was always supported by the soldiers.
The third is benevolence. After the great uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the tyrants in the Shandong area of Hebei Province, because of their hatred for the Sui Dynasty, as long as they captured the Officers and Soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, they were tortured and killed, but Dou Jiande gave preferential treatment to the prisoners, and he once captured more than 10,000 Civil and Military Officials and Xiaoguo soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, dismissed them all, returned the travel expenses, and gained a reputation of benevolence, so many Sui Dynasty defenders were willing to surrender to him. Later, Dou Jiande also captured Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, who had come to fight by the Li Tang clique, and not only did not kill him, but also sent him out of the country. Li Tang's general Li Shiji also made Dou Jiande a prisoner, and Dou Jiande trusted him to be a native of Shandong and gave him official duties. However, Li Shiji fled back to Guanzhong, and many people persuaded Dou Jiande to kill Li Shiji's father, but Dou Jiande said that Li Shijie was a loyal vassal of Li Tang and spared his father.
The fourth is frugality. After Dou Jiande established the Great Xia Kingdom, he still shared happiness and suffering with the common people, never eating meat himself, only eating vegetables and coarse rice. His wife, Cao Shi, wore coarse cloth clothes, never wore silk satin, and there were only about a dozen maids.
Dou Jiande captured more than a thousand palace ladies of the Sui Dynasty Emperor, but did not enjoy them himself, and released them all back to the people and reunited with their families. Compared with Li Yuan, who secretly enjoyed the sui emperor's palace daughter in Jinyang, he spent days and wine in Guanzhong, and also gave birth to a large number of sons, and the gap between the two people's private morality was very large.
Fifth, good war. Dou Jiande was also quite capable of fighting, and he used a civilian, from weak to strong, unified the Hebei and Shandong regions, and established the Xia Kingdom, and his strength could not be underestimated. He also had a very high time, once defeating the thirty thousand troops led by the Sui Dynasty general Xue Shixiong with a thousand troops. Later, he also defeated Yu Wenhua and avenged the Sui Emperor, and it should be said that his military ability was also beyond doubt.
Then, why did Dou Jiande, who was perfect in all aspects, play a good card and lose it in the hands of Li Shimin in the "Battle of Luoyang-Tiger Prison" and become a prisoner of the order?
First, there is strategy, but there is a lack of tactics
In 621, when Wang Shichong was beaten by Li Shimin and the city of Luoyang could not be found, he urgently asked Dou Jiande for help.
Dou Jiande led more than 100,000 elite Hebei troops to cross the river to rescue Wang Shichong. His adviser Liu Bin analyzed the situation for him and had three options:
The first is to rescue the siege of Luoyang, Hebei and Henan have cold lips and teeth, and continue to maintain the state of Hebei, Henan, and Guannei. This is the minimum goal;
The second is to repel Li Shimin, annex Wang Shichong's forces, and seize Henan, so that there is the greatest capital to run the world. This is a medium target.
The third is to unite wang Shichong's forces, break all the way into Guanzhong, and directly become the lord of the world. This is the highest goal.
Dou Jiande admired and endorsed this strategy.
Therefore, the battle to rescue Luoyang must be fought, and as for the extent to which it is fought, it depends on the on-the-spot play.
It should be said that Dou Jiande was ready to take advantage of the fatigue of the veterans of Li Tang's army division outside Luoyang City and lead the large army to crush them with a single force, this strategy was completely correct, and the probability of success was also very high. During the Wuhu Chaohua period, Shi Le defeated the former Zhao emperor Liu Yao who besieged Luoyang in this way, unified the north, and laid the foundation of the Later Zhao Empire.
But the problem is that Dou Jiande has too little consideration for specific tactics. In fact, Li Shimin had already considered the difficulties he would encounter, and deliberately blocked the footsteps of Dou Jiande's army at the Tiger Prison Pass at the throat of Luoyang in the east, making it a dilemma.
Subsequently, the tactics of disturbing and tired the enemy were adopted to continuously reduce the morale of Dou Jiande's army, and finally launched a battle to crush Dou Jiande in one fell swoop.
Second, I love talent, but I am not good at using talent
Dou Jiande knew that he was from a peasant background and had great respect for knowledgeable and strategic people. The history books say that he "will be blessed with grace for every scholar", which can be said to be thirsty for talent and able to humbly accept some correct proposals. For example, he once recruited Song Zhengben, the governor of Raoyang County, and after talking, he admired his strategy and immediately cited him as a guest as the chief staff officer.
But soon problems arose, because Dou Jiande trusted Song Zhengben, which caused the dissatisfaction of many villains, who said bad things about Song Zhengben in front of Dou Jiande, and even said that he was a traitor of the Sui Dynasty. Song Zhengben, a man who usually likes to be blunt, is inevitably too sharp, coupled with the fact that the villains splash dirty water, the effect of this "three people becoming a tiger" also fell on Dou Jiande's head, and he actually executed his chief think tank Song Zhengben without serious investigation.
He was the same with the general Wang Fubao, who fought bravely and made the greatest contributions, and had a tendency to be quite meritorious and high-ranking, coupled with the rumors of the villains, Dou Jiande thought that he was going to launch a mutiny, but he did not listen to his defense and killed him.
These two things not only unloaded his right and left arms, but also violated Dou Jiande's previous reputation of "benevolence". This shows that Dou Jiande, as a hero from a reckless background, is difficult to achieve like Li Shimin, "both listening is bright, partial listening is dark", which has a certain impact on the morale of the army.
Third, there is ability, but lack of execution
Dou Jiande still had a chance to turn things around. After being blocked by Li Shimin at Tiger Prison Pass, Dou Jiande's most prominent adviser, Ling Jing, advised him to immediately change his strategy and lead a large army to cross the river to the north, enter and occupy the east of the river, and threaten Guanzhong. He also said that this strategy is the strategy of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao," and has three major advantages: one is that it is very safe if it enters no man's land; the other is to open up territory and enrich the troops; and the third is that the siege of Luoyang is naturally lifted.
Judging from the principle of Sun Tzu's Art of War of "causing people but not causing them" and the strategy of grasping the initiative on the battlefield, Ling Jing's suggestion is quite reasonable.
Dou Jiande also considered adopting it, but Wang Shichong had already secretly targeted Dou's subordinates. At this time, they all stood up against this plan collectively and ridiculed Ling Jing as just "the view of a scholar". Dou Jiande had to abandon this plan.
Based on the above reasons, Dou Jiande quickly fell from strategic initiative to strategic passivity. Li Shimin was a master of fighting battles, and he established a special force called the "Xuanjia Army" and adopted the textbook tactics of "not coming out of the wall - logistical attack - chaos of the enemy army - waiting for an opportunity to attack". In the end, Dou Jiande lost the battle with Li Shimin, and he himself became a prisoner and was sent to Chang'an to be beheaded. The Xia kingdom established by Dou Jiande also collapsed.
If Dou Jiande adopts Ling Jing's strategy, will he succeed?
The answer is still no. Dou Jiande's failure had actually laid the groundwork for a long time. It is mainly manifested in several aspects:
First, the combat effectiveness of the Xia Army was low. In the Battle of Tiger Prison, Li Shimin's cavalry commando easily penetrated the Xia army, Dou Jiande's more than 100,000 troops collapsed without a few moments of resistance, and the number of soldiers killed by the Tang army was only 3,000, and the others were either taken prisoner or fled. This shows that the morale of Dou Jiande's army is very low, and when it encounters a really strong enemy, it is simply a fish belly. There was a big gap between this and Wang Shichong's troops, not to mention Li Shimin.
Second, Dou Jiande has worries about the future. Although Dou Jiande basically unified Hebei, he never subdued Luo Yi in Youzhou, and Luo Yi successfully dragged Dou Jiande and defeated him repeatedly by relying on a little army and the fierce generals Xue Wanjun and Xue Wanche' brothers. Li Shimin, on the other hand, eliminated Xue Rengao, Song Jingang and other tyrants who threatened Guanzhong. Compared with the two, the victory and defeat of the Li Tang Group and the Dou Group have already been divided.
Third, Li Tangshan's shanxi defense was solid. If Dou Jiande adopted Ling Jing's strategy and crossed the Yellow River back and entered Shanxi (Hedong) from Jingxing, this strategy would be difficult to succeed. Once Wang Shichong had no foreign aid and food, he would definitely surrender immediately, and Li Shimin could directly swing his army in Hebei to attack Dou Jiande's base camp and cut off his retreat. In addition, because Song Jingang had occupied Shanxi, Li Tang further strengthened the defense after eliminating it. At the beginning, if Dou Jiande did not rescue Wang Shichong and directly attack Shanxi, there were still some opportunities, and now he wanted to retreat and attack Shanxi again, and the timing had been missed.
Therefore, the tragic fate of the Dou Jiande clique has emerged from a very early age, and dou Jiande's ultimate defeat is only a matter of time before it is due to his limited control ability and combat level.
After Dou Jiande was taken prisoner, an interesting scene occurred, when Li Shimin rebuked him for why he sent troops to Henan, Dou Jiande actually said an interesting sentence: "I came today to give the head myself, so that you will not be old and take it away." ”
@ Qingshi Zijian