At the end of the Sui Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, heroes were born and there were countless heroes.
If you want to talk about fame, there were many famous generals at that time, including Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shixin, Shan Xiongxin, and Wei Chi Jingde. But in terms of bravery, Zhang Sutuogan ranked second, and I am afraid that no one dared to compete for the first.
Zhang Sutuo produced three famous generals, one bigger than the other, counting Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and Luo Shixin (Luo Cheng's prototype), but why was he not very famous?
There are two main reasons:
One is that although he was loyal to the Sui Emperor, he was not used by Yang Guang, and it was impossible to publicize the generals of the Sui Dynasty after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, so it was slowly destroyed in history; the other was that he died too early, and when the herd of males chased deer, he had already ended the curtain, so no one mentioned him later.
Famous generals are not necessarily strong in martial arts, like the historical Han Xin and later Li Jing; but the fierce generals must be superb in martial arts, and Zhang Sutuo is a fierce general.
Zhang Sutuo was fierce in nature, and at first he was an errand boy under Shi Wanzai, the commander of the march, when Shi Wanzai was a famous general, and Zhang Sutuo was only a small soldier.
Later, Zhang Sutuo became the governor of Qi Commandery (Jinan, Shandong) because of his military achievements.
In March 611 (the seventh year of Daye), Wang Bo of zouping instigated the masses to raise the banner of rebellion against the Sui for the first time with Changbai Mountain as his base (present-day Zouping South), and Zhang Sutuo was ordered to conquest.
During Wang Bo's reign, his troops reached tens of thousands, and he was defeated by many encirclements and suppressions by the previous officers and troops, dominating one side.
However, when Zhang Sutuo came, the situation immediately changed, and after several battles, Wang Bo only lost and fled.
Later, Zhang Sutuo led thousands of warriors to pursue them relentlessly, and beat Wang Bo tens of thousands of people to lose their armor and be embarrassed.
The imperial court heard the report, and the Sui Emperor was overjoyed and summoned the commendation:
"Emperor Dayue, praise of the emperor, let the messenger picture his description and play it." (Book of Sui, Chronicles 36)
If the defeat of Wang Bo's rabble-rousers was only Zhang Sutuo's ox knife test, then the Battle of Licheng in the same year against Pei Changcai, Shi Zihe and other rebels made him shine.
Pei Changcai and Shi Zihe led 20,000 people to plunder around Licheng, and after Zhang Sutuo heard the news, he did not have time to gather soldiers, but only personally led the five horsemen around him to fight with the rebels.
"The thieves Pei Changcai, Shi Zihe and other twenty thousand people went down to the city and plundered the army. Sudra did not have time to gather troops, and personally led the five horses to fight. (Book of Sui, Chronicles 36)
It was a battle of one to a thousand people, Zhang Sutuo was initially under siege and injured in many places, but he always rushed there to kill and gallop, and later waited for reinforcements from the city, and finally came to a combination of inside and outside.
In this way, Zhang Sutuo counterattacked and led the officers and soldiers to defeat the rebels, and for a time he became a god-level figure.
If the proportion of enemy and enemy troops in the history books is somewhat exaggerated, from the description we can see zhang Sutuo's mighty, he is similar to the historical Xiang Yu, Ran Min and Liu Yu, all of whom have the courage of ten thousand men.
In November 614 (the tenth year of Daye), Zhang Sutuo was promoted to the post of Tongshou of Qi Commandery (陳郡通守) for his meritorious service, and led the Twelve Counties of Henan Province to depose the ambassador of the Twelve Counties of Henan Province.
At this time, the situation in the world has changed somewhat.
At the beginning, the smoke of the uprising was lit everywhere, one small and one small, no less than 100 in size.
As the war became more and more brutal, three powerful rebel forces gradually formed:
One was the Wagang Army in Henan;
One was dou jiande army in Hebei;
The other was the DuFuwei army in the Jianghuai region.
Among these three forces, especially the Wagang Army is the most effective.
At that time, Zhai Rang was the leader of the Wagang army, and Zhang Sutuo fought more than thirty battles with him, and the Wagang army was defeated without exception.
Later, a powerful figure came from the Wagang army, Li Mi, and the combat effectiveness of this team suddenly increased.
When Yang Xuangan rebelled, Li Mi once served him as a military master, and he gave Yang Xuangan a strategic decision to stabilize the world:
The best strategy: take Zhuo Commandery (涿郡, present-day Beijing), hold Linyu Pass (present-day Shanhaiguan), and keep the Sui army conquering Goguryeo from the pass;
Zhongce: Capture Chang'an, occupy Guanzhong, recruit troops there, and confront the Sui Emperor;
The next strategy: lay the eastern capital Luoyang and occupy a base area.
However, after listening to his three strategies, Yang Xuangan said with some disdain: "The next strategy you said is exactly my best strategy." Near Luoyang, there is a base area first. ”
"Xuan Senses: 'The public is the best strategy'." (Old Book of Tang)
Li Mi's strategic decision had not yet been implemented, and he died halfway through.
Therefore, Yang Xuangan's final failure is inevitable.
Li Mi saw that his grand ambitions could not be realized, so he defected to the Wagang Army.
At first, he gave the leader Zhai Rang a military master and deputy, and later he was alone.
In December 616 (the twelfth year of Daye), Zhang Sutuo, who had already served as the tongshou of Xingyang, was ordered to attack Zhai Rang.
Zhai Rang had already made Zhang Sutuo afraid in front, so when he heard that Zhang Sutuo had brought troops to negotiate, he panicked and prepared to grease the soles of his feet - kai slip.
Li Mi said, "Zhang Sutuo has courage and strategy, plus the troops have fought so many victorious battles, the so-called proud soldiers will be defeated, you just have to arrange the position and wait for him, I promise to fight him and there will be no return." ”
Zhai Rang had no choice but to act according to Li Mi's plan.
Li Mi dispatched more than a thousand cavalry to ambush the northern forest of the Great Sea Temple (Xingyang, Henan), and met the enemy from the front with the main force.
Zhang Sutuo led the army to attack in a phalanx formation, and Zhai Rang led his army to retreat, so that Zhang Sutuo pursued all the way and unconsciously came to the vicinity of the Great Sea Temple.
When they entered the ambush circle, the Wagang army that was ambushed here suddenly came out and surrounded the Sui army.
"Left and right could not be exhausted, and sudra Prancing Horse returned to rescue it, counting four, and died in battle." (Book of Sui, Chronicles 36)
Zhang Sutuo fought hard, and finally rode out of the breakthrough alone. But when he jumped out of the circle, his subordinates were still struggling, so they rushed into the encirclement circle to rescue, going back and forth four times, but did not rescue their subordinates.
Finally, the desperate Zhang Sutuo looked up at the sky and let out an exclamation: "The soldiers have been defeated to such a point, where can they still have the face to see the Son of Heaven?" ”
So he dismounted and engaged the enemy, personally shot dozens of Wagang generals, and finally died of exhaustion.
As soon as Zhang Sutuo died, the imperial court lost control of the Central Plains, and the Central Plains became a place for various rebels to chase deer.
In this way, a fierce soldier who shed the last drop of blood in the imperial court, the Sui Emperor's later posthumous gift was the Golden Purple Guanglu Doctor and the Xingyang Junshou, and the final posthumous title was just a Wupin official.
Let others see it, how not to feel chilled?
References: Old Book of Tang, Zizhi Tongjian