Please note that the Tang Dynasty's governing policy was not as heavy as the Song Dynasty,but have you ever noticed that throughout the history of the Tang Dynasty, only the fierce generals at the beginning of the founding of the country were like clouds. However, when these veteran generals died, the Tang Dynasty had no more famous generals, so that the Tang Dynasty in the middle and late period could not even defeat Arabia and surrendered the Western Regions.
Why did this happen, how could the great Sheng Tang not be able to cultivate a few famous generals? Where have the young people gone?
Having said that, we may wish to analyze the situation at that time through Xue Rengui's story, perhaps after reading Xue Rengui, the answer will surface.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > beginning</h1>
Xue Rengui is no stranger to everyone, and there are not a few literary works about him, in many literature and literary works, he is a military wizard, and the very tricky nine surnames of Tiemi at that time were easily handled by him. Even when he encountered Goguryeo, who was desperately resisting, he was clever in breaking through.
Of course, his battle achievements are far more than these, in the war with the Turks and Tubo, it is also more victorious and less defeated, especially famous is his "three arrows to fix the Heavenly Mountain", but also achieved his first heroic name. Because he always wore a white robe, he was called "the white-robed general" by later generations.
However, Xue Rengui is not a founding hero, he is a new generation of famous generals who have risen after those veterans. According to historical records, he only joined the army in the last year of Zhenguan, and because of his outstanding military achievements, he was soon noticed by the emperor.
It is reasonable to say that some outstanding soldiers, even if they are appreciated, should be their superiors, why should they attract the attention of the emperor. The reason is also very simple, because Li Shimin understands very well that with the death and old age of the veteran generals, the task of cultivating a new generation of warlords is very urgent.
Under the attention and promotion of Li Shimin, Xue Rengui's official position was promoted very quickly, and in just a few years, he was promoted to the rank of right lieutenant general, and such a promotion speed was really rare.
However, as his official position grew, the more problems he encountered, especially at the Battle of Dafeichuan, there were serious problems within the army.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > nobles</h1>
Perhaps everyone can't imagine that despite the huge disparity in the strength of the two sides in this battle, the strength of tubo was 4 times that of the Tang army, reaching 400,000 people. However, the defeat in this war was not Xue Rengui's lack of ability, on the contrary, Xue Rengui had taken advantage of the opportunity at the beginning of the war, as long as there were no mistakes, he would definitely win.
But what Xue Rengui did not expect was that the nobles within the army became the churning sticks, and the victory and misfortune became a defeat. The first of them is Guo Beifeng.
Guo Beifeng, the son of Guo Xiaoke, a famous general in the early Tang Dynasty, was spoiled and habitual from an early age, and his body was stinky. At the Battle of Dafeichuan, he served as a deputy general. However, after he claimed to be a famous general, he did not pay attention to Xue Rengui and the powerful Tubo army. On the contrary, I cried in my heart, thinking that I was too big to use, and my heart was quite uneven.
Later in the war, Xue Rengui decided to raid the Tubo army, so he ordered Guo Xiaoke to defend himself and buy him time for battle. However, Guo Xiaoke was arrogant and arrogant, and acted without Xue Rengui's orders, and was eventually seized by the Tubo army and destroyed in one fell swoop.
As we all know, Li Shimin adopted a gentle policy toward the founding heroes, and almost never killed the heroes who worked hard for him. Although these old courtiers were able to perform their duties during their lifetime, their descendants, relying on the royal protection, showed a domineering posture.
In addition to Guo Xiaoke, there are also such things as Li Xiaogong's son Li Han, Cheng Yaojin's son Cheng Huailiang, and so on.
Sadly, after the defeat at the Battle of Dafeichuan, Xue Rengui was reduced to a commoner. Although he was later revived by the rebellion of the Goguryeo exiles, another problem lay ahead.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the beginning of conscription</h1>
According to historical records, in 671 AD, Xue Rengui was appointed and sent to Goguryeo to ping the displaced people. However, this quelling of chaos has been fought for 2 years, which is quite surprising. How could a rebellion of displaced people take so long, and what happened in the army during the time when Xue Rengui left?
It turned out that after Emperor Gaozong of Tang ascended the throne, the Juntian system was gradually destroyed, which caused an increasing number of displaced people and fugitives. The direct consequence of this situation is the sharp decline in the number of troops, and the previous prefectural military system has been unable to meet the needs of the army's military resources.
In desperation, the emperor began to try various ways to solve it, and even tried to recruit displaced people to join the army.
Because of this, the combat effectiveness of the Tang army has also declined, and the quality of soldiers is uneven, and it is difficult to achieve uniformity and explicit prohibition.
In this case, Xue Rengui obviously felt very difficult when he put down the rebellion, so it took 2 years to defeat the rebellion of the displaced people. However, xue Rengui's problems were far more than these, and the degree of moderation that was extended by the conscription system made it bigger and a bigger problem.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > knots</h1>
In Xue Rengui's later years, the emissaries in various places used the conscription system to recruit and buy horses and expand their strength. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, these knots not only had great power, but also a large number of soldiers, and some of them had even several times more troops than the emperor's Janissaries.
In fact, the system of moderation existed as early as the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and mainly served as the general manager of the army in some military centers. However, after Li Longji ascended the throne, in order to avoid the recurrence of wu Zetian and other situations, he ordered that the functions of local envoys should be strengthened.
It is precisely this strengthening that has enabled the envoys to take charge of the three major governments of the military, government, and finance into one. It can be said that at this time, there is no difference between the moderation and the king of the clan.
However, Li Longji eventually suffered the consequences of his own evil, and the Tang Dynasty eventually perished at the hands of these jiedushi, which was really sad and regrettable.
Then again, although xue Rengui did not have such a great power when he was alive, the development trend was already very obvious. The various local thrifty forces divided up the already insufficient military resources and talents, making Xue Rengui almost to the point where no one could use them.
Where did < h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > people go? </h1>
Back to the question itself, why did the Tang Dynasty have no more famous generals after Xue Rengui, and where did the young people who came to the top go? This is to ask you, through Xue Rengui's life of fighting horses, do you understand his helplessness and resignation?
Yes, it is not that there are no people in the Tang Dynasty, but that there are nobles in the front and division in the back, so that the Tang Dynasty cannot cultivate its own famous generals, generals, and fierce generals. Even Xue Rengui, if it were not for the emperor's personal promotion, I believe it would be difficult to have a day of emergence.
On the other hand, although the grandfathers of the nobles and the nobles had some merits, they did not cherish them, and used Li Shimin's kindness to the heroes on stubbornness.
Later, the various local festivals were even more so, and their men were all fierce generals. For example, Hedong Jiedushi, his thirteen Taibao, which one is not the only one, especially the undefeated god of war Li Cunxiao, even Li Keyong is extremely capable of him, and eventually killed him.
After reading Xue Rengui, I can't help but think wildly, is "running dog cooking" right? Even the founding heroes did not dare to make a mistake, but what about their descendants? How did it become a stumbling block to the country's progress?
Reference: Old Book of Tang