Chapter 32 2. Late-strike: The Battle of Shousuihara

The anti-kings who rose up in the late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, no matter what their origins, each had superhuman courage, and those who survived the battle with the Sui army and other rebels were even more outstanding.The vicissitudes that Xue Ju experienced from being a captain in Jincheng to becoming emperor in Qinzhou were unimaginable for Li Shimin, Xue Rengao and other younger generations.Therefore, in the confrontation with Li Shimin, Xue Ju planned to make Li Shimin useless everywhere.But what is a pity is that Li Shimin was delayed because of malaria, and he missed for a while but still had a chance to turn defeat into victory; while Xue Ju was also infected with malaria, but died.

When he heard the news of Xue Ju's death, Li Shimin's malaria had been cured. He once again led the army to attack the Western Qin Dynasty as Marshal Zhengxi, but the opponent he met had become Xue Rengao who succeeded his father.Looking at Xue Rengao who was retreating to Zheqi City, Li Shimin said to the general: "Although Xue Ju is gone this time, I think Xue's army camp is still in order, and Xue Rengao seems to be well prepared." The general Liang Shi suggested: "Now that Xue Ju has just died, Xue Rengao ordered the three armies to wear mourning for him. It seems that the morale of the army is very low. We might as well take the opportunity to send troops now to catch him off guard."

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Although Xue Ju has just passed away, our defeat not long ago has boosted the morale of Xue Jun a lot. We have suffered new defeats and our morale has not recovered, while the enemy army is now proud of victory. This It is really unwise to send troops at the right time. We must strictly order the three armies to stand firm and wait behind closed doors. When they run out of food and grass, we will fight and break through again!" After the generals took orders, they stood firm on the city.Li Shimin's confidence in this battle is actually not very high. As the first enemy after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Ju dealt him a heavy blow, which taught the young and vigorous Li Shimin a painful lesson.In this rematch, although the strength of the Tang army was strong, Li Shimin was still a little worried in front of the brave Guanlong soldiers of the Western Qin army.He hoped that Xue Ju's death would depress the West Qin army, so that they could seize the opportunity to enter.However, Xue Rengao was not immersed in grief because of his father's death. He understood that Xue Ju's wish was to submit to the whole world, so soon after sending Xue Ju to the funeral, he sent General Zong Luohu to take the initiative.Because of Li Shimin's strict order, none of Tang Jun went out of the city to accept the challenge.

This time, Li Shimin's "weak soldier tactics" have been fully implemented.What he wants is not a quick fix, but the best time.For the emergence of this opportunity, Li Shimin is like the most patient hunter, patiently waiting for his prey to become restless until he shows his flaws.The confrontation between the two armies began in August, and by November, more than 60 days had passed, and Zong Luohou's army had run out of food and grass. Li Shimin summoned Pang Yu, his general, and gave him an opportunity to face-to-face: "We have been confronting Xue Jun for more than 60 days, and their rations are running low. Now, I want you to lead an elite team to approach Xue Jun and station in Qianshuiyuan , but still guard against danger.”

Pang Yu was puzzled by this, and asked: "Now Xue Jun is exhausted, since the general asked me to send troops, why didn't he fight?" Li Shimin said: "At this time, Xue Jun has been shaken because of the shortage of food. I let you station troops near him to let them feel that we can send troops at any time. But the trapped beasts are still fighting. If they want to fight to the death, they will add more to us. Therefore, we only need to make Zong Luohu feel nervous all the time, and our goal will be achieved. When his morale is defeated, we can easily defeat him." Pang Yu exclaimed: "Great strategy, general! This should be the second step of your 'art of exhausting soldiers', right? Now our army's morale is high, and everyone is waiting to fight the enemy, and we will be ashamed."

Li Shimin smiled and said: "Don't worry, the time to decide the outcome will come soon. This time, we must let Xue Rengao never have a chance to stand up again." Pang Yu took the order and stationed troops in Qianshuiyuan, tens of miles away from Zong Luohu's troops, but they couldn't get out of the wall, which made Zong Luohu unable to sleep peacefully every night.He originally planned to withdraw his troops, but Tang Jun sent troops suddenly, which caught Xue Jun off guard.Because of the lack of food and grass in the army, Zong Luohu did not dare to take the initiative to attack.Under such circumstances, Xue Jun was in a state of disarray.Within three days, news came that someone from Xue Jun had come to surrender.

Li Shimin opened the surrender form and saw that they were the three generals of Xue Rengao's vanguard army, Zhai Chang, Mou Juncai, and Liang Hulang. He couldn't help smiling, and said to the left and right: "These three were originally Xue Ju's close ministers when he was in Jincheng, and they followed him. Many years. Now even they are planning to abandon Xue Rengao and surrender to me. It seems that Xue Rengao's army has no fighting power, and our opportunity has appeared!" He ordered someone to send an urgent letter to Pang Yu, asking him to act according to plan.

After receiving Li Shimin's order, Pang Yu led the army to call for battle, and began a head-to-head confrontation with Zong Luohu.Zong Luohu, who could no longer hold back, immediately dispatched the most elite troops to meet him.When the battle between the two sides was in full swing, Li Shimin led his army to cut off Zong Luohu's retreat from the northern part of Qianshuiyuan, making him face the enemy from behind.Zong Luohu hurriedly returned to the army to fight. After thousands of soldiers were killed and wounded, he hurriedly fled back to Zheqian City where Xue Rengao was stationed.

After the victory of the flag, the whole battalion of the Tang army was excited.Li Shimin said to Pang Yu, Liang Shi and other generals: "The victory or defeat of all wars is not only a contest of military strength, but also a choice of timing. We have grasped the best timing this time and sent troops when Xue Jun was least able to fight. , victory is within reach." Everyone nodded in agreement. Dou Gui, the adviser under the tent, said: "Now that we have won a big victory, Xue Rengao has been forced into the city of Zheqi. We should take this time to take a good rest and fight him again."

But Li Shimin said: "Before we had to build up morale, but now our army is in such a state of strength, why wait any longer? Moreover, Xue Rengao and other Western Qin soldiers are all very brave. Once they get a chance to breathe, they will definitely fight back. Zong Luohou's army The army is the main force of Xiqin, if he joins Xue Rengao, the strength will be multiplied. It will not be easy for us to defeat them again." Dou Gui was originally Li Shimin's uncle. Seeing that Li Shimin didn't listen, he said to him, "Did you forget the last time we fought Xue Ju? Why did we fail? It was because of lack of preparation. This time, are we going to make the same mistake?" mistake?"

Li Shimin smiled and said: "Don't worry, the situation this time is completely different from the last time. Last time we were not prepared enough, but Xue Ju was ready for battle. This time we are chasing after the victory, but Zong Luohou is defeated and fleeing, so I am sure to defeat him." After speaking, he said to his general Liang Shi: "Zong Luohu left in a hurry, as long as we take advantage of the victory and pursue him now, we will be able to kill him to death. I don't think he dares to take the right path now, it should be He fled to Zheqian City. You lead two thousand elite soldiers to the south bank of the Jingshui, and you will definitely cut off his retreat. All that remains is to enter Zheqian City and have a final confrontation with Xue Rengao." Liang Shi really intercepted Zong Luohu on the south bank of the Jingshui River, defeated him, and then joined Li Shimin's main force to confront Xue Rengao head-on at the foot of Zheqian City.Seeing that Zong Luohu was captured, Xue Rengao hurriedly dispatched his subordinate general Hungan out of the city to meet the enemy. As soon as Li Shimin heard that he was a fool, he smiled and said, "We can win this battle without fighting, do you believe it or not?" Pang Yu asked, "How can we win without fighting?" Li Shimin said: "Mou Juncai, Liang Hulang and others who surrendered to me before were originally Xue Ju's old subordinates, and their subordinates were also from Longxi. Even they were willing to surrender to me. This gangster was originally recruited by Xue Ju, and he Is there any reason not to surrender? Now I just need to let him know how my Tang Dynasty treats those who are willing to surrender, I believe he will be tempted." After speaking, he sent an order to Mou Juncai and Liang Hulang to lead the troops out of the camp to persuade Hun Qian Jiang Tang. Hungan saw that Mou Juncai was receiving courtesy in the Tang camp, but he saw that the situation was no longer in Xue Rengao's army, so he surrendered to Li Shimin's account without hesitation.Xue Rengao was so angry when he heard the news, but there was nothing he could do.He ordered the city gates to be closed tightly, but the city gates could not control the morale of the army. People kept coming out of the city to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Xue Rengao couldn't help but looked up to the sky and sighed: "I am ashamed of my ancestors! It seems that the sky will not help me!" Li Shimin spent more than 60 days confronting Xue Rengao's main force, Zong Luohu, with exhausted tactics, exhausting his food and grass, demoralizing the army, and winning with one blow.Coupled with the psychological attack tactics of treating the prisoners courteously, it took only six or seven days to besiege Xue Rengao, and then let his subordinates go out of the city to accept surrender.Seeing that he had no chance of winning, Xue Rengao donated more than 10,000 elite soldiers in the city, as well as the population and weapons in Zheqi City, and left the city to surrender to Tang. The First Battle of Qianshuiyuan occupied an important position in the history of the founding of the Tang Dynasty. It not only pacified the Northwest, but also destroyed the Western Qin regime established by Xue Ju and Xue Rengao and his sons, eliminated the largest separatist force in Longxi, and consolidated the stability of Guanzhong. .Although this victory was difficult, and the Kanto, Jiangnan and other places were still in chaos, and the Turks in the north were still arrogant, but the pacification of the Western Qin Dynasty gave the new Tang Dynasty temporary stability and relieved its worries. In this battle, Li Shimin adopted a late-strike method, first exhausting the enemy soldiers through long-term confrontation, and then pursued them fiercely.He knew very well that most of the Western Qin army was from Longxi, they were brave and good at fighting, and their military strength far surpassed that of the Tang army.Therefore, the opportunity was cleverly used to achieve the goal of defeating the many with the few and defeating the strong with the weak, completing a wonderful battle in the history of Tang Jianguo's war, and it became Tang Jianguo's first victory after the war.