Dou Jiande: Chivalrous liver and courage are famous in the township, why did they lose after only six years of fighting?

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos, peasant uprisings in various places were raging, and among the heroes of all walks of life, Dou Jiande was the most instrumental, the most chivalrous, the best personal character, the most grassroots atmosphere, the closest to the earth, and the most influential hero, however, after only six years of rising up in the army, he was defeated, and the reason for this is worth pondering for posterity.

　　1. Chivalrous liver and righteous gallbladder (chivalrous heart), famous in the township.

　　Dou Jiande (573-621), originally from Fufeng Pingling (present-day Xianyang, Shaanxi), was a native of Zhangnan (Hebei), Beizhou. When he was young, he was full of words and preached righteousness. Once there was a fellow villager who died of his parents, the family was poor and unable to bury, at that time Dou Jiande was cultivating the field, after hearing it, he sighed and immediately dismantled the cattle and sold them, and all the money and goods obtained were taken to handle the funeral, so they were praised by the villagers. Originally, he had been the governor of the city, but he escaped because of breaking the law, and only returned home when he encountered the amnesty of the imperial court. When his father died, more than a thousand people were sent to the funeral, but if anyone gave a gift, they all gave thanks and did not accept it.

　　Second, regardless of personal safety, rescue the righteous soldiers, see the world in chaos, and plot to raise an army.

　　In 611, the seventh year of the Sui Dynasty, the imperial court recruited troops to recruit Goryeo, and the county selected brave and excellent people as small marshals, so dou Jiande was appointed as two hundred people. At that time, there was a flood in Shandong, most of the people fled to the wilderness, there was a Sun Anzu in the same county, the house property was washed away by the flood, and the wife and children starved to death. The county took a fancy to Sun Anzu Xiaoyong and also selected him into the team. Sun Anzu did not want to join the army on the grounds of family poverty, and told Zhangnan County Ling face to face that the county order threw a tantrum and beat him fiercely, sun Anzu killed the county order, fled to Dou Jiande, and Dou Jiande took him in. In this year, when there was a famine in Shandong, Dou Jiande said to Sun Anzu: "During the reign of Emperor Wen (Yang Jian), the world was rich and prosperous, and he sent a million horses to conquer Liaodong, but he was still defeated by Goryeo. This year there was a flood, the people were poor, but the emperor did not sympathize with the people's feelings, he wanted to personally go to Liaodong to supervise the war, coupled with the western expedition in previous years, the damage to the vitality has not yet recovered, the people are tired and sleepy, years of conquest, people who have been away for many years can not go home, and now they have to send troops, which is easy to cause turmoil. As long as the manly husband does not die, he should make a meritorious career, how can he go to be a prisoner who hastily escaped. I am familiar with the vast area of Gaojipo for hundreds of miles, the grass on the lake and swamp is dense and deep, you can go there to hide, find an opportunity to come out and rob, enough to live, save, pull up people and horses, wait for the turmoil of the situation, and will inevitably do an earth-shattering cause. Sun Anzu agreed with his plan. Dou Jiande recruited and lured those who evaded conscription and had no family property, and gained hundreds of people. Later, Dou Jiande's entire family was killed by the Sui government, which further aroused Dou Jiande's determination and fighting spirit to rebel, and Dou Jiande heard that his entire family had been killed, and led his two hundred men to escape and defect to Gao Shida (the leader of an insurgent army). Gao Shida proclaimed himself the Duke of Donghai and appointed Dou Jiande as a soldier. Dou Jiande's team slowly grew to more than 10,000 people, still active in the area of Gaojipo. He often took out all his possessions to help others, and shared the happiness and suffering with the soldiers, so he could inspire people to work hard for him (every time he leaned over to receive things, he and the soldiers were on duty, which was a force that could cause death).

　　Third, resourceful, brave and good at war, gradually became a climate, and established a summer kingdom.

　　Since the beginning of the army (611), Dou Jiande himself has continued to mature in the baptism of war, and in several major battles, he has cleverly led the weak rebel army to defeat the powerful Sui army, the team has changed from small to large, from weak to strong, with the death of Gao Shida, Zhang Jinzhi and other leaders, he himself has become the supreme leader of this team. By the 13th year of the Sui Dynasty (617), Dou Jiande's discharge had reached more than 100,000, occupying most of the counties in Hebei. In the first month of the thirteenth year of Daye (617), an altar was set up at the junction of Hejian and Leshou counties to hold a ceremony, proclaiming himself the King of Changle, and setting up an organization to appoint officials. Because five large birds landed in Leshou City, tens of thousands of birds and finches flew with them, and it took a whole day to fly away, so the era name was changed to Five Phoenix. There was a Zongcheng man who offered a Piece of Xuanwang Gui (black jade), and Jingcheng Cheng Kong Deshao said, "In ancient times, Xia Yu was personally ordered to give It to Xuanwang Gui. Now, like Xia Yu, Ji Zhao should be called the Xia Kingdom. Dou Jiande heeded this suggestion and changed the name of the country to Xia. Prior to this, Dou Jiande, the King of Xia, also annexed a rebel army named Lishan Fei, and the ranks were even stronger.

　　After the establishment of the Xia Kingdom, Dou Jiande defeated Yuwen and his ministry, capturing and beheading all the murderers of the Sui Emperor in the Yangzhou coup, including Yu Wenhua and his two sons. In addition, a relatively large rebel army team menghai gongbu was defeated, and another rebel army team Xu Yuanlangbu took the initiative to surrender. Dou Jiande's Army was unprecedentedly strong.

　　Fourth, Dou Jiande's excellent personal quality style.

　　1, share the happiness and hardships with the lower, be tolerant and generous to the subordinate, and reward the merit; the husband and wife are incorruptible and simple, and maintain the civilian style.

　　Shi Zai: "(Dou Jiande) every time he leans over to receive things, he and the soldiers are on duty, and it is a force that can cause death. "De Pingcheng broke through the battle, obtained the wealth, and scattered the generals, and took nothing." He also does not eat meat, and often eats only vegetables and vegetables, and rice without millet. His wife Cao Shi was not dressed in clothes, and only a dozen concubines were made. At this point, the number of people in the palace is in the thousands, and there is a color, which should be dispersed when the time comes. The Sui Wen military attaches and Xiao Guo were still 10,000, and they were also scattered and listened to them. "Those who have built up their desires to go to Guanzhong and the eastern capital also listen to it, but still give them food and clothing, and send them out of the country with military assistance." ”

　　Share the hardships with the subordinates, the gold, silver and treasures obtained, all are given to the subordinates, nothing is taken, usually eat vegetables and coarse grains, do not eat meat, do not even eat refined rice and white noodles, do not take concubines, do not have good sex, do not kill the captured enemy personnel, are willing to leave to give the road fare to send their situation, incorruptible and simple, unchanged color, can win everyone's support, which is rare among the emperors.

　　2, be good at selecting people with good character and decent people, and do not kill people indiscriminately.

　　Dou Jiande attacked hejian county, and many attacks were not defeated. Later, when the city ran out of grain and received the news that Emperor Qiu had been killed, Wang Chun of Hejian Commandery led the officials to announce bad news to the people, Dou Jiande sent emissaries into the city to express condolences, Wang Chun took the opportunity to entrust the emissaries to request surrender, and Dou Jiande retreated thirty miles to set up a banquet and wait for him. Wang Chun led the officials wearing white mourning clothes and tied their hands behind their backs to the front of the barracks, Dou Jiande personally untied them and talked to them about the demise of the Sui Dynasty, Wang Chun bowed his head and bent down to be sad and painful, and Dou Jiande also sobbed for this. Some generals proposed to Dou Jiande: "Wang Chun resisted our army for a long time, many people were killed and wounded, there was no way to go out of the city and surrender, we demanded that he be boiled to death." Dou Jiande said: This is a man with discipline. It is precisely to promote and appoint him in order to encourage a loyal servant of the monarch how he can kill him. In the past, when he was a bandit together in Gaojibo, he might be able to kill people at will, but now he wants to stabilize the people and stabilize the world, how can he hurt Zhongliang? So he spread the order in the army, saying: "Those who used to have a vendetta against Wang Chun now dare to incite people's hearts and exterminate the three tribes." On the same day, Wang Chun was appointed as the Assassin of Yingzhou. It began to take Leshou as the capital, named Jincheng Palace, and since then has conquered many counties.

　　The slave took his head to Dou Jiande, who said, "The slave killed his master for a crime of great rebellion, so how can I take him in?" "He ordered the immediate execution of the slaves, and the return of the head of the king's rails to Huazhou." The officials and people of Huazhou were touched by this and surrendered on the same day. Qizhou, Jeju, and Xu Yuanlang, the commander of the Yanju rebels, all fell on the wind.

　　After Dou Jiande's Xia army captured Liyang, the Tang Dynasty general Li Shixun (also known as Xu Maogong) and his father Xu Gai and Emperor Gaozu's sister were captured along with Princess An Chang and Li Shentong. In the first month of the third year of Tang Wude (620), Li Shixun (Xu Maogong) left his father and fled back to the Li Tang court, and the magistrate asked to kill his father, Dou Jiande said: "Li Shixun was originally a courtier of the Tang court, after being captured, he did not betray his monarch and fled back to his own court. "Never killed him. Princess Tong'an Chang and Li Shentong were arranged to live in the guest house and treated them with the etiquette of the guests. Tang Gaozu sent emissaries to make peace with Dou Jiande, and Dou Jiande immediately asked Princess Tong'an Chang to return with the emissaries.

　　3, be good at receiving advice, from good as flow. Good at governance, quiet and peaceful in the territory.

　　He had once captured Zhao Prefecture and captured Zhang Ang, Xingzhou Assassin Shi Chen Junbin, Ambassador Zhang Daoyuan, and others, but because Zhang Ang and others suddenly attacked the border of Dou Jiande's jurisdiction, Dou Jiande wanted to kill them. Guozi sacrificed wine Ling Jing advised, "Dogs bark at people who are not their masters, and now the neighbors are firmly defended and captured because they have exhausted their strength, which is a loyal and reliable man." If they are executed, how can you encourage your subordinates, the Great King? Dou Jiande said angrily: "I have already marched to the city, and he is still obsessed with not surrendering, causing my troops to suffer, how can the capital crime be forgiven?" Ling Jing said: Now that you have sent the great general Gao Shixing to defend Against Luo Yi in Yishui, Luo Yi's army has only arrived, and Gao Shixing has surrendered. Only then did Dou Jiande understand, so he ordered them to be released. He was tolerant and generous in his obedience to advice, mostly as was the case.

　　In 620, Shi Zai: "Jiande Prefecture advised the class nongsang, there was no theft in the territory, and the merchants traveled wildly." Dou Jiande went to the prefecture and county to investigate and encourage farming, and there were no thieves in the area under his jurisdiction, and merchants and pedestrians slept rough. This shows Dou Jiande's governance style and governance level. In short, the territory of the Summer Kingdom is peaceful and stable, and the people live and work in peace and contentment.

　　V. One of Dou Jiande's major mistakes: mistakenly killing the general Wang Fubao, a direct minister of Song Zhengben.

　　Shi Zai: "The great general Wang Fu Baoduo is brave and strategic, the crown of merit is equal, and the group of marshals is jealous." Or the opposite, Jiande will kill him, Fu Bao said: "I am not guilty, how can the king listen to rumors, and cut off his own hands?" "If you kill them, it will be unfavorable to use soldiers later." The general Wang Fubao was brave and strategic, and he was the first among his peers, and the generals were jealous of him. Someone spread that he wanted to rebel, and Dou Jiande was going to kill him, and Wang Fubao said, "I am innocent, how can you listen to those words that slander me, and cut off your own left and right hands?" "Still kill him, and later often lose battles."

　　The counselor Song Zhengben often put forward many good plans, but he was more upright, framed by his colleagues, and mistakenly killed: "His words Song Zhengben were good and direct, and Jiande listened to rumors and killed him." It is the one who later generations think that the admonition, there is no repetition of the speech, and thus the political and religious benefits and declines. Song Zhengben loved to speak out and advise, and Dou Jiande listened to the words of others who slandered him and killed him. Since then, people have taken this as a lesson, and no one has entered the advice, and since then the punishment and indoctrination have become even more weakened.

　　The brave and brave will be killed, and the defeat of Dou Jiande, the king of Xia, is coming.

　　Sixth, the second major mistake of Dou Jiande, the king of Xia: Serious mistakes in strategy and tactics, resulting in the defeat and death of soldiers.

　　In 620, Li Shimin led the Tang army to attack Wang Shichongbu in the eastern capital, at this time, Wang Shichong's army was defeated in successive battles, and had to besiege the isolated city of Luoyang, and sent people with heavy gold to ask for help from Dou Jiande. At this time, Dou Jiande's Xia army was attacking the Menghai Gongfu.

　　At this time, Dou Jiande's adviser Liu Bin put forward a very good proposal: now Tang (Li Yuan) occupies Guanzhong, Zheng (Wang Shichong) occupies Henan, and we (Xia) occupy Hebei, which is a situation in which Dingzu and Sanli are facing each other. I heard that Tang used all his troops to attack Wang Shichong, and for two years in a row, Zheng's situation became more and more urgent day by day, and Tang's siege did not relax. Tang's troops are strong and Zheng's troops are weak, and the development trend is bound to be to defeat Wang Shichong, and Wang Shichong is defeated, so we have the worry of cold lips and teeth. For your sake, it is better to rescue Wang Shichong, Wang Shichong is defending inside, we are attacking outside, and defeating the Tang army is certain. If the Tang Army is taken away and Wang Shichong is saved, this is a strategy to maintain a three-point situation for a long time. If after the Tang army is defeated, Wang Shichong can also be defeated, then take the opportunity to eliminate him, concentrate our and Wang Shichong's troops, and take advantage of the tang army's defeat to fight straight to the west, and Chang'an will be able to reach it, which is the basis for pacifying the world.

　　This suggestion is very good, two weak people unite against the one with the greater force, this is the only choice for the two weak ones. The weak and the weak unite to defeat the strong, so that the power of the strong is contained, and the weak are successful in self-preservation, so that the balance of the three parties is achieved, forming a three-legged situation. Just like during the Three Kingdoms period. It's a matter of strategy.

　　However, how to rescue, whether to directly join the warband, or to encircle Wei to save Zhao, and attack him to save, this is both a strategic issue and a tactical issue.

　　At the beginning, Dou Jiande's army was strong and strong, and the superiority of troops, and with the power of defeating Meng Haigong, directly attacked the eastern capital Luoyang and directly joined the battle group. At this time, Wang Shichong's troops also sent a force to secretly negotiate with Dou Jiande's troops to prepare to attack Li Shimin's troops back and forth. However, the start was unfavorable, and Dou Jiande's army was blocked under the Tiger Prison, and was repeatedly attacked and defeated by the Tang army. "In March, the King of Qin entered the martial prison, entered his camp, wounded and killed many people, and captured his generals Yin Qiu and Shi Wan. Shi Shichong's disciple Shi Shi identified him as Xuzhou Xingtai and sent him to lead Guo Shiheng to lead thousands of troops from him, and the number of more than 100,000 people was more than 100,000, and the army was chenggao, and the palace was built in Banzhu to show that there would be a battle. And he sent the covenant to the table. After two months, he was forced to enter the martial prison. The Qin king sent the general Wang Junkuo to lead more than a thousand light horses to copy his grain transportation, and his general Zhang Qingte was captured, and many were captured. "Zizhi Tongjian

The engagement was unfavorable, and because meng Haigong had just been defeated, the soldiers had a lot of booty, so everyone had the heart to return. Shi Zai: Jiande's number is unfavorable, people's feelings are dangerous, the general Shuai has broken meng haigong, all have gained, and he wants to return to Huanzhou. At this time, Ling Jing, the main strategist under Dou Jiande, made an important suggestion:

　　Great King, you might as well send all your troops to cross the Yellow River, capture Huaizhou and Heyang, send heavy generals to guard, beat the war drums and erect the battle flag, cross the Taihang Mountains, enter Shangdang, slightly Fenzhou and Jinzhou, and rush to Pujin, this has three advantages: First, entering the no-man's land, victory can be said to be foolproof; second, the territory has been opened up to collect soldiers and horses, and the country's strength is even stronger; third, Tang in Guanzhong is shocked, and the siege of Luoyang in the Zheng kingdom will naturally be lifted. There is no more appropriate plan than this.

　　Ling Jing's plan was actually a plan for Sun Zhi to encircle Wei and save Zhao, avoid the strong tiger prison guarded by Li Shimin, attack Shanxi, where Li Tang's forces were relatively weak, and then continue to press Li Tang's heart in guanzhong, Li Tang's abdomen was threatened, Li Shimin's army was bound to return to the rescue, and the siege of Luoyang in the eastern capital was self-relieved. This plan avoids the real and strikes the false, and it is very much in line with the art of war. If it is implemented, as Ling Jing said, victory is foolproof, Dou Jiande's forces are more powerful, Li Shimin returns to the rescue, and Wang Shichong's siege is self-relieved, the future development of the situation will be unpredictable, and the history of sui and Tang dynasties will be rewritten.

　　Dou Jiande believes that this plan is very good, just when it is about to be implemented. However, Wang Shichong sent Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi to ask for help wept day and night, and Wang Shichong continued to send people to complain and ask Dou Jiande to rescue Luoyang, and Wang Wan and Changsun Anshi secretly used gold and jade to bribe Dou Jiande's generals to obstruct Ling Jing's plan. Because they accepted the bribe, all the generals spoke for Wang Shichong, slandering and disagreeing with Ling Jing's strategy: "Ling Jing is a scholar, where do you know how to fight, how can he listen to his words?" ”

　　At this time, dou Jiande, the king of Xia, was short-boarded: soft-hearted, and he was hot enough to do things for people, but he was not rational enough, and he began to have the upper hand, and it turned out that this personality psychological defect finally buried himself and the Xia kingdom he established and the brothers who followed him to fight the world.

　　So Dou Jiande apologized to Ling Jing and said, "Now that everyone's morale is high, this is heaven helping me, taking this opportunity to fight a decisive battle, I will definitely be able to win a big victory, and I can't do it according to your opinion." Ling Jing argued repeatedly, but Dou Jiande was not happy and ordered someone to put him out. It was dou jiande's wife Cao Shi (a simple and frugal good woman) who said to him: "The words of sacrifice and worship cannot be disobeyed." Now that the king has taken advantage of the emptiness of the Tang kingdom from Fukou, and has gradually seized the northern part of the mountain, Dai, Fen, Jin, and other places, and then used the Turkic army to raid Guanzhong to the west, the Tang army will inevitably return to the division to save itself, and will it not be solved by worrying about the siege of the eastern capital of zhengguo? If you pause here, wear out morale, and consume financial resources, if you want to succeed, there will be no date! ”

　　Cao's words further elaborated on Ling Jing's strategy, and had new insights: First, to unite with the Turkic forces (dou jiande xiaguo had already cooperated with the turks) to attack Guanzhong together, which was a greater threat to Chang'an in Guanzhong, li tang's heart, forcing Li Shimin to have to return to the rescue; second, the large army was trapped under the Tiger Prison of Jiancheng and could not attack the city, and morale would gradually disappear, and if the enemy took advantage of the false attack on me, our army would be in danger. Cao Shi, as a knowledgeable and virtuous wife, sincerely advised her husband, but unfortunately Dou Jiande still used Xiaoren Xiaoyi as his undue code of conduct as the head of state.

　　Dou Jiande said, "This is not something that women can understand! I came to save Zheng, Zheng is now in a very critical situation, he is about to perish, I abandoned him, I am afraid of the enemy and treacherous, can not do this. ”

　　Chivalrous, helpful, and an ordinary person is a very good personal quality, but as a group leader, a team leader, the first thing he should think of is his team, and he is responsible for his team first. And we must not be arrogant and sacrifice the interests of the team at the expense of our own personal reputation. Just like a man, husband, and father who has a family and a wife and children must not go overboard because of his personal humiliation and humiliation. Dou Jiande did not put the interests of the team first, and was preoccupied with the so-called reputation of the individual, and finally died the team, and the group leader Dou Jiande could not escape the blame!

　　As a result, the strategy of Ling Jing and Cao Shi was not adopted, and the Xia army continued to fight with Li Shimin's troops under the Tiger Prison.

　　The Tang army secret agent reported: "When Inspector Dou Jiande heard that the Tang army ran out of hay, he released his horse north of the Yellow River and prepared to attack Wu Prison. "On the afternoon of the fifth day of May (the first day of the first month), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, crossed the Yellow River to the north, forced into Guangwu from the south, reconnoitred the enemy's situation, took the opportunity to leave more than a thousand horses, grazed herding cattle along the Yellow River to lure Dou Jiande, and returned to Wu Prison that night. Before he was born (the second day of the first year), Dou Jiande really poured out of the nest, and from Banzhu out of the Niukou array, north of the Yellow River, west of the Fenshui, south of queshan mountain, stretching for twenty miles, beating the drum to advance. The generals of the Tang army were very alarmed, and Li Shimin led a few cavalry up the hill to look at the enemy position, and said to the generals: "The enemy has raised troops from Shandong, and has not yet met a powerful opponent, but now he is in danger but very noisy, there is no discipline, and he is approaching the city to arrange the battle position, which means to despise us." If we do not move, their courage will naturally be exhausted, and as long as the soldiers and soldiers are hungry, they will inevitably retreat automatically, and if we catch up and attack, we will inevitably win. I'm going to meet you guys, and once it's noon, I'm sure I'll be able to beat them! ”

　　As Li Shimin said, the Xia army rushed out to attack the Tang army. Li Shimin's superb military ability enabled the Tang army to defeat Dou Jiande's Xia army in one battle without being numerically superior.

　　First of all, the Tang army avoided the real attack, avoided its sharp qi to hit its laziness, the Xia army array came to attack, the sharp qi was flourishing, Li Shimin avoided fighting, and by noon, the Xia soldiers were hungry and tired, they all sat down, and they competed for water, and when they saw that the Tang army did not come out to fight, they thought of retreating. Li Shimin ordered Yu Wenshi and three hundred cavalry to gallop south through the west of Dou Jian's German army, warning him: "If the enemy does not move, you will return with your troops, and if you move, you will lead the troops to the east." When Yu Wenshi arrived at Dou Jiande's front, the enemy position really moved, and Li Shimin said, "You can fight!" ", taking advantage of the enemy's movement (at this time it is difficult to command and dispatch, weak, avoid the real attack) so he ordered an attack.

　　Li Shimin led the light horse to set off first, and the large army followed behind, wading east through the water and directly attacking the enemy position. Dou Jiande's courtiers were on pilgrimage, the Tang army cavalry suddenly arrived, the courtiers all ran to Dou Jiande, Dou Jiande summoned cavalry to resist the Tang army, because the courtiers blocked the cavalry from passing, Dou Jiande waved his hand to order the courtiers to retreat, at the time of this advance and retreat, the Tang army had arrived in front, Dou Jiande was in a difficult situation, and retreated near the eastern hillside. The Tang general Dou Kang led troops to attack him, and the situation was slightly unfavorable after the battle. Li Shimin led the cavalry to the aid, and was invincible. Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, stepped forward to charge the front, rushed straight out of the rear of the enemy line, and then returned to rush into the line, several times in and out, the arrows gathered on his body were like hedgehog hair, the courage was still undiminished, and he shot arrows at people, and they all fell to the ground in response. Li Shimin gave him his spare war horse and asked him to follow him, so the armies fought, and the dust on the battlefield covered the sky.

　　At this time, Li Shimin surprised again. He personally led the fierce generals to raid the rear of the enemy position. Li Shimin led Shi Danai, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Yuwen Xin and others to roll up the flag, rushed into the enemy position, came out from behind the line, opened the Tang army flag, Dou Jiande's soldiers looked back and saw the Tang flag fluttering behind the line, quickly collapsed, the Tang army chased out thirty miles, killing more than three thousand people. Dou Jiande was stabbed by a spear and fled to Niukouzhu to escape. The Tang generals Bai Turang and Yang Wuwei pursued Dou Jiande and captured him. Dou Jiande's generals fled, the Tang army captured 50,000 people, and Li Shimin dismissed the prisoners on the same day and let them return to their hometown. The Tang Army's Xia Army fought in front of the Tiger Prison Pass, ending with the tang army winning a complete victory and the Xia army being defeated.

　　After Dou Jiande was captured, the Xia state surrendered to Li Tang shortly after, and Dou Jiande was escorted to Chang'an to be beheaded and the country was destroyed.