<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > ambush of Xue Jiajun in the Feiyun Valley The first battle was lost</h1>
The previous episode talks about the establishment of the Tang Dynasty in 618 AD. Li Yuan was called emperor and historically known as Tang Gaozu. However, the establishment of the real Tang Empire lasted seven years, and it was not until 624 AD that the world was unified. In the military struggle to unify the world, the large army led by Li Shimin swept away all the crowds, and he accounted for four of the six major battles to unify the world, and the merits of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, were the most prominent.
At that time, there were countless regimes that existed at the same time as Li Yuan's Tang Dynasty. The most famous of these was the Wagang Army led by Li Mi near the eastern capital Luoyang, with more than 200,000 troops, and Li Mi built the title of Duke of Wei, whose power was beyond Li Yuan's reach. In addition, Liu Wuzhou's stronghold of Mayi, connected to the Turks in the north, was a major threat to the north of the Tang Dynasty. There is Dou Jiande in Hebei, Wang Shichong in Henan, Luo Yi in Youzhou, and Xiao Milling and Du Fuwei in the south of the Yangtze River.
So how did Li Yuan, Li Shimin and his father and son accomplish their mission to unify the world?
Before Li Yuan became emperor, he had sent Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng to attack the eastern capital Luoyang, and when Li Shimin went to the front line to take a look, it was estimated that it was not impossible to take Luoyang, but even if luoyang was captured, it might not be able to consolidate, because doing so would inevitably have to contend with Li Mi. So he withdrew and returned to Chang'an.
After returning to Chang'an, Li Shimin and his father Li Yuan discussed the strategy of unifying the world. Li Shimin said: Fighting with Li Mi, who is more powerful, is not good for himself. We have just taken Chang'an, which is not yet stable at all, and even if we get the eastern capital Luoyang, we cannot defend it. At that time, the Tang dynasty only controlled more than twenty counties near Chang'an. To the north of Chang'an were Xue Ju and further west were Li Rail, both of which posed a direct threat to Chang'an.
Therefore, Li Shimin put forward the strategy of unifying the whole country: Consolidate Guanzhong and then try to go east. The first battle should be to annihilate Xue Ju. Li Yuan agreed.
Xue Ju was originally a lieutenant of the Sui Dynasty Jincheng Prefecture, and when Li Yuan raised an army, Xue Ju also raised an army in Jincheng Commandery (金城郡, in present-day Lanzhou, Gansu), attacked the city and plundered the land, occupied Longyou, and kidnapped the Jincheng commander Hao Yu. In July 617, Xue Ju was proclaimed emperor, with the state name Qin, and called himself the Overlord of Western Qin. Li Yuan conquered Chang'an. Xue Ju's son Xue Rengao (薛仁杲) marched into Fufeng (扶風, in modern Fengxiang, Shaanxi), but was repulsed by Li Shimin.
In the first year of Wu De(618), Xue Ju invaded Jing Prefecture (泾州, in modern JingZhou, Gansu). At this time, Li Yuan ordered: Li Shimin, the King of Qin, was made a marshal, leading Liu Wenjing, Qu Tutong, Li Jing and other generals to send the eight generals together to resist Xue Ju and garrison Gaocheng.
On the part of the Tang Army, due to the gradual victory, it produced a feeling of light enemy. Unfortunately, at that time, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, got malaria and handed over military command to Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan. Li Shimin told them: "Xue Ju's hanging army is deep, and the food and soldiers are tired, if you come to challenge, be careful not to respond." If I am healed, I will be broken for the king." Li Shimin hoped that after he was well, he would fight again.
After Yin Kaishan withdrew, he said to Wen Jing: The King of Qin was worried that you did not have the certainty of winning the battle, so he said such a thing. The enemy now knows that the King of Qin is sick and will inevitably despise us, and I think it is a good time to attack now. The two men did not listen to the military orders of Li Shimin, the king of Qin, flaunted their military might, and marched on Jingzhou, where Xue Ju's son Xue Rengao was entrenched. He placed his forces southwest of Gaoyuan City and entered the Feiyun Valley, thinking that he had many troops and was not defensive.
Feiyun Valley was a short road to enter Jingzhou, a road in the middle, flanked by a slow slope full of low grass, and The Xue family cavalry division Hao Yu ambushed the cavalry in the Feiyun Valley, and arranged for other cavalry to sneak in from behind to attack the Tang army. The battle was very fierce, the Tang army was defeated by xue jiaqi, the soldiers were killed and wounded a lot, and the Tang generals Sun Shunde and Liu Hongji were captured.
This was the first and only time that Li Shimin, the King of Qin, led his troops on a campaign to suffer such a defeat. Li Shimin took the illness and led his troops back to Fengzhou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > young commanders asked the general to learn to stand firm and wait for the fighter</h1>
After the defeat of the army, Li Shimin was deeply remorseful. On the one hand, he consulted with Fang Xuanling on countermeasures, and on the other hand, he studied the art of war with Li Jing and summed up lessons.
At that time, xue ju was also in conflict with Xue Ju in Longxi, and Li Rail occupied the city of Wuwei in Liangzhou, with the name of The Great Liang and the self-proclaimed Emperor of The Great Liang. Due to repeated encroachment on Xue Ju, the territory was shrinking day by day. Without the barrier of the Qilian Mountains and the Ancient Great Wall, Li Rail would have been expelled by Xue Ju into the desert in the northwest long ago. Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling discussed how to ally with Li Rail to deal with Xue Ju.
Fang Xuanling
After obtaining Li Yuan's consent, Fang Xuanling went to Wuwei and read Li Yuan's letter to Li Rail. When Li Lu heard Li Yuan call himself a "cousin", he couldn't help but be overjoyed. Send envoys, carry treasure gifts, and go to Chang'an with Fang Xuanling to thank them. Fang Xuanling completed the mission of uniting with Li Rail and returned to Fengzhou. Li Shimin was very happy to learn that Li Rail was willing to make friends with Tang and sent people into the hinterland of Longxi to spread the news. Officials of various prefectures and counties in Longxi talked about the news of Tang and Daliang's friendship, and the reaction was strong.
In September, Xue Ju fell ill and died, and was succeeded by his son Xue Rengao. Xue Rengao had to divide his troops to fortify Li Rail.
In order to learn the lessons of this defeat, Li Shimin sincerely listened to Li Jing's opinions and discussed and studied the art of war with him.
Li Jing, the word pharmacist, is 18 years older than Li Shimin, so Li Shimin calls Li Jing "medicine master brother". Last time, it was mentioned that Li Jing had signs of rebelling against The Sui Emperor Yang For advertising to Li Yuan, and Li Yuan, who claimed to be the empress dowager, was almost killed, and Li Shimin cherished his military talents and saved him, which was the first time Li Jing followed Li Shimin and participated in the campaign against Xue Ju.
In fact, before the war began, Li Jing opposed a hasty attack on Xue Ju, but because he had just entered the Qin Palace, no one paid attention to his opinion. Now Li Shimin, the King of Qin, wanted to sum up the lessons of his failure and proposed to ask for advice on the art of war, and Li Jing was humble in every way. However, seeing the young marshal's humble attitude, he had to hand over several volumes of military books he had written to Li Shimin. When Li Shimin read "The Army General was Proud and Defeated", he sighed: "Brother Medicine, the defeat of Feiyun Valley in the past is still vividly remembered, and it is painful. If you read this book earlier, you will not incur mistakes. ”
Li Jing comforted him: Victory or defeat is a matter of the soldiers' family. Although this failure has losses, after all, it did not hurt the fundamentals. "Arrogant soldiers must be defeated" This is indeed a very important article in the art of war.
Li Shimin said: There is also "knowing oneself and knowing the other." We underestimated Xue Ju's cavalry.
Li Jing said that because the Sui Dynasty's horse breeding farm was in the Hexi Corridor, Xue Ju seized a large number of warhorses and formed a cavalry, called Xue Jiaqi. The Xue family was led by the military master Hao Yu and the general Zong Luohu. Their cavalry is stronger than our army.
Li Jing said, "The most difficult thing for a handsome person is to adjust my own inherent thinking." Nor can we cling to the art of war. The most effective way to adjust is to personally experience and accumulate a lot before you can have an epiphany. ”
Li Shimin said: "According to the words of Master Yaoshi, the art of soldiering is actually a common style, and the key is to attach importance to practice and adapt to changes at random. Recalling the battle of The Song Dynasty, the first confrontation, our army lost and retreated. I personally led the iron horse, rushed down from the Southern Plains, crossed Song Laosheng's position, cut off Laosheng's retreat, and made it collapse, before capturing Song Laosheng. ”
Li Jing sincerely praised: "The marshal is a Heavenly Sacred Martial Artist, who is capable of learning without learning. In the Battle of Huoyi, the old student did not know the soldiers, bravely advanced, did not consider the retreat, saw the capture of the marshal, this so-called strange is also positive. ”
Li Shimin and Li Jing exchanged martial arts, and the more they talked, the more enthusiastic they became, and they admired each other.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin color statue
Li Shimin turned the subject and said, "Brother Medicine, according to your observation, what is the strategy of the opponent in front of us, Hao Yan?"
Li Jing replied, "This Hao Yu is a knowledgeable person, just like right now—he knows the importance of a quick battle and a quick decision, and he uses different methods to provoke us." This man is in charge, and we must be ten times more careful. However, for the general, there must always be a good master to play a role. Now seeing hao yao pause here, time must be urged, Xue Rengao is cruel and unscrupulous, simple and suspicious, one day, there will be friction between Xue Rengao and Hao Zhen, this is the variable we are waiting for. ”
Li Shimin's calculations in his heart were in line with Li Jing's, and he agreed: "Let's wait for the opportunity!" ”
Fengzhou City is the main road from the western region to Guanzhong, the peaks on both sides are towering, and the city tower is built against the cliff, as long as the city tower is not lost, the Xue family cannot enter Guanzhong.
The grain and grass of the Xue family's cavalry army had always needed to be supplied by Guanzhong. Li Shimin's strategy was to occupy the city of Fengzhou and jam the grain pipeline that the Xue family rode, and they would soon have the dilemma of no grain and grass. Therefore, spending time with the Xue family is the best way.
Hao Yu and Zong Luoju sent several pairs of horses to demonstrate and challenge under the city of Fengzhou every day, bent on provoking the Tang army out of the city for a decisive battle. Helplessly, under the strict orders of Li Shimin, the defenders of Fengzhou held the city and did not move. The Xue family rode a garrison at the entrance of the pavilion, and the place of the pavilion was narrow, and half of the 30,000 Xue family riders had no accommodation. When winter came, the soldiers of the Xue family were short of clothing and food.
Hao Yan couldn't hold back and returned to Jingzhou to see Xue Rengao.
Hao Yu played to Xue Rengao: "Emperor, the subjects look at the Tang army, they are well aware of the shortage of grain and grass in our army, so they can wait for work. The subject offered a plan: Our army took the initiative to retreat, retreated all the way to Jincheng, and relocated all the people in the vicinity, turning this hundred miles into a no-man's land. At present, around Chang'an there are Liu Wuzhou in the north, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in the east, and Zhu Cang and Xiao Qiao in the south, all of which need Li Yuan to use troops. As soon as the pressure on our army is small, Li Yuan will definitely send Li Shimin back to Chang'an. Taking advantage of this gap, we went all out to deal with Li Rail, completely swept away the western region, and stabilized Longxi, at that time there was no worries about the future, and then we planned to advance eastward. ”
This is indeed a cruel move of Hao Yu. Fortunately, Xue Rengao was a brave and unscrupulous guy who refused to accept Hao Yan's strategy. Hao Yu had no choice but to return to the army and insist bitterly. By November, the weather in the plateau was getting colder.
Hao Yu said to Zong Luohu, "General Zong, the shortage of grain and grass and the cold will kill all of us. I had to retreat. ”
Zong Luoju was worried that Xue Rengao would punish him, and he hesitated. Hao Yu said: Everything is up to me. So it was decided to withdraw from the army. As soon as the order to retreat was given, the army pulled out the camp that night.
Please continue to see the fourth time, how Li Shimin annihilated the Xue family riding!