Chapter 58 11. The Three Heroes of the Northern Qi Dynasty

Although the government of the Northern Qi Dynasty was messed up by Gao Zhan, the prodigal son, but "a thin camel is bigger than a horse", the foundation left by Gao Huan is indeed very solid.The military of the Northern Zhou Dynasty changed from the strategic defense of the Yuwentai era to the strategic offensive, but it is not so easy to conquer the Northern Qi.Not only was the Northern Qi still stronger than the Northern Zhou in terms of economic accumulation and cultural accumulation, but it also had a group of heroic and skilled Xianbei veterans.Among them, the most powerful were the so-called Three Heroes of the Northern Qi Dynasty: Duan Shao, Hu Luguang and Gao Changgong.

Duan Shao is the oldest of the three in terms of age and seniority. As the son of Duan Rong, an old minister of Gao Huan, he has made many military exploits since Gao Huanxin started his army. In the battle between Gao Huan and Yu Wentai, he shot He Basheng The war horse (see), saved Gao Huan's life, and since then has gained the trust of Gao's father and son, and has a high prestige in the army.After Wucheng Emperor Gao Zhan came to the throne, he successively served as Da Sima and Taifu, ranking among the three princes. Huluguang is more than ten years younger than Duan Shao. "Book of Zhou" likes to call him Hulu Mingyue, Mingyue is his character, and it is probably also a free translation of his Hu name.The Hulu family was well-known in the Northern Qi Dynasty. Huluguang’s father, Hulujin, was highly valued by Gao Huan. Under Gao Huan’s tent, he fought in the South and the North, and the Northern Qi was founded. Luxian, like Huluguang, has excellent archery skills, and was promoted to Jijie, the governor of the six northern states. Three princesses from the Gao family were killed.

Hu Luguang himself came to prominence early on. At the age of seventeen, he followed his father to conquer the Western Wei Dynasty, captured Yuwentai General Mo Xiaohui alive, and was promoted by Gao Huan to be the governor.Gao Cheng succeeded to the throne and appointed him as the trusted governor, general Zhenglu, and general Wei. Emperor Wucheng promoted him to Shangshu Youpushe and Sikong successively.Hu Luguang was a man of few words, with an upright personality. He was known for his strictness in running the army. His opponent Bei Zhou was afraid of him, and his Northern Qi soldiers were also in awe of him. The army under Hu Luguang's command had always been brave and strong in combat.

The youngest and most attractive of the three heroes of the Northern Qi Dynasty is undoubtedly Lanling King Gao Changgong.Gao Changgong's big name is Gao Xiaoguan, but people prefer to call him "Chang Gong". He is the grandson of Gao Huan and the fourth son of Gao Cheng. Lu Jin and Gao Huan are basically of the same generation). Gao Changgong's life is full of unsolvable mysteries.If there is a mystery, it will trigger endless associations and yearnings for future generations, so that there are still many admirers of him today.Gao Cheng had six sons in total, but there is no official history record of who the mother of Lanling King Gao Changgong was.For a playboy like Gao Cheng, there is no guarantee that there will be some unspeakable love affair hidden behind it. I am afraid that what is going on behind the scenes can only wait for future generations to search for old papers and archaeological materials for further research.

In addition to the unknown life experience, Gao Changgong's "different" personality is also a mystery.Most of the Gao family's children do not abide by public order and good customs, and drinking, being mean, and tyrannical are commonplace.However, Gao Changgong is pure-hearted and ascetic. He belongs to the "alternative character" of the Gao family. He serves as the governor of Bingzhou and is very considerate to his subordinates. Every time he gets delicious melons and fruits, he always shares them with the soldiers.He is neither greedy nor indulgent, very popular.

However, in terms of appearance, Gao Changgong still inherited the glorious tradition of the Gao family. "Northern Qi Book" described him in eight words: "soft in appearance, strong in heart, beautiful in voice and appearance", almost all the words to describe the highest state of a handsome guy were concentrated on him alone.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, appearance was admired. Gao Changgong was quite effective in stabilizing the morale of the army and deterring the enemy on the battlefield. With these three pillars in place, Northern Qi had no fear of Northern Zhou's military attack.

Yuwenhu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty also knew that his military strength was far worse than that of the Northern Qi Dynasty. He didn't have any brilliant methods for governing the army (even governing the country was following the policies of Yuwentai's era, and he didn't have any new methods), all he could think of was absorbing foreign aid.Looking at the world, apart from Chen Guo, who is weak in the south, the potential most suitable ally is the Turkic Khanate in Mobei. In the sixth year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi Dynasty (555 A.D.), the Turks completely wiped out the remnants of Rouran, completely occupied the former territory of Rouran, replaced Rouran, conquered the Khitan and other tribes, expanded their territory, and extended their tentacles to The Western Regions, which Rouran could not effectively control, defeated the big country of the Western Regions, and established a center centered on the upper reaches of the Orhun River, starting from the Liaohai Sea (now the upper reaches of the Liaohe River) in the east, reaching the West Sea (now the Aral Sea) in the west, and reaching the West Sea (now the Aral Sea) in the south. It is near the desert, north to the Great Khanate of the North Sea (now Lake Baikal).

In the last years of Yuwentai, Mugan Khan (the son of Yili Khan) of Turkic promised to marry his daughter to Yuwentai. After Yuwentai died, Mugan Khan was lured by Northern Qi and wanted to go back on his word.Yu Wenhu decided to bring up the old matter again, and sent Yang Jian, the uncle of the imperial family, to propose marriage again, affirmed righteousness to Mugan Khan, and asked the Turks to send troops to attack Qi. In the late autumn of the third year of Baoding (the second year of Heqing in the Northern Qi Dynasty, AD 563), the Northern Zhou Dynasty formed an alliance with Mugan Khan, and the troops were divided into two groups. Leading 30,000 infantry and cavalry, attacked Pingyang from the south to the northeast, and agreed to join forces with Jinyang, the ruling center of the Gao family (Gao Huan made his fortune in Jinyang, so Jinyang's political and military status in the Northern Qi Dynasty was particularly important. Although the capital of the Northern Qi Dynasty was nominally Yecheng, but Jinyang is the real capital, taking Jinyang is equivalent to destroying the Northern Qi).

Yang Zhong progressed smoothly, and captured more than 20 cities in the Northern Qi Dynasty in a row, took Xingling (now northwest of Dai County, Shanxi), and joined Mugan Khan's 100,000 Turkic cavalry.Zhou Tu's allied forces divided into three groups from Hengzhou (now Datong, Shanxi), and attacked Jinyang City in the snow. Emperor Wu Cheng of Qi returned to prostitution, but he was not too confused. Knowing the importance of Jinyang, he sent Hu Luguang and 30,000 cavalry to station in Pingyang to withstand Da Xiwu's attack. To Jinyang. Under Jinyang City, black and white are distinct, the white is the thick snow, the white is several feet deep, and the black is the uniform of the soldiers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and there are countless blacks.Emperor Wu Cheng was terrified and wanted to abandon the city and run away. Under the desperate persuasion of Zhaojun Wang Gaorui and Hejian Wang Gao Xiaowan, he agreed to resist with all his strength (here we can see the cowardice of Wu Chengdi, fortunately, the ministers still took care of the overall situation ).Emperor Wucheng ordered Gao Rui to save the entire army, and Duan Shao, the leader of the three heroes, was the governor. He set up an army in the northern city of Jinyang to face the coalition forces.

Seeing that the Qi army under Duan Shao's command was well-organized, Khan Mugan complained about Yang Zhong: "Didn't your envoys say that Qi is in chaos and can be attacked? How can we fight with this posture?" The two families were arguing, when the Northern Qi suddenly blew up their drums and sent out all their elite troops to attack the coalition camp. Although there were many Turkic troops, they fled without a fight. Yang Zhong's Zhou army lost support and was immediately defeated.When Da Xiwu learned of the failure of the North Road in Pingyang, he also retreated westward after the siege.Hu Luguang followed and pursued, went deep into the territory of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and captured more than 2,000 Northern Zhou soldiers.

Bei Zhou's attack was frustrated, and Yu Wenhu was very upset.In the summer of the following year, he sent Yang Zhong to unite with the Turks to crusade against Northern Qi again.The Turkic wooden pole Khan was defeated last time without a fight, and he also felt that he couldn't hold back his face. He rectified hundreds of thousands of cavalry, invaded the Great Wall of Northern Qi, and harassed Youzhou and Bingzhou. Emperor Wucheng of Qi was terrified when he saw that the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Turks were making a comeback.Yuwenhu used to follow Yuwentai to enter the customs, and his mother Yan and his aunt stayed in Jinyang. Emperor Qi Wucheng sent someone to find out the whereabouts of Yan's sister-in-law. Going to Chang'an, I hope that Yu Wenhu will not attack Qi again (A trump card like Yan's is obviously more meaningful to keep in Northern Qi than to return to Northern Zhou. Emperor Wu Cheng didn't understand such basic diplomatic common sense).Yu Wenhu immediately recalled Yang Zhong, and wrote back to thank Bei Qi for his "great kindness" and promised a truce and friendship. Emperor Wucheng of Qi read Yu Wenhu's letter and thought he had exchanged the hostages for peace. He was about to escort Yan Shi to the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but he received a letter of strong opposition from Duan Shao from the front line against the Turks. Duan Shao's reason is straightforward: "People in Zhou are capricious and don't pay attention to faith. Since Yu Wenhu asked for peace for his mother, why didn't he even send a regular envoy? If only a letter, he would be sent back to his mother." , I’m afraid they will be underestimated by the Zhou people. Why don’t you promise them on the surface, and it’s not too late to release them after the two countries have confirmed their reconciliation.” Emperor Wu Cheng refused to listen, and sent Yan back home without asking for any tokens. The development of the situation was indeed caught by Duan Shaoyan.Yu Wenhu's mother and son were reunited, and before he could make a speech, the Turkic people came to urge him to send troops quickly to fulfill the agreement.Yu Wenhu was afraid of offending the Turks, so he put aside his promise to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and personally mobilized the 24th Chang'an Army and troops from various places, totaling more than 200,000 troops, to attack Qi from Tongguan.In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, there were three routes to the east: the middle route was led by Yu Chijiong with 100,000 elite soldiers, and they pointed directly at Luoyang; The Henan soldiers who learned from Yang Zhi attacked Zhiguan (now west of Jiyuan, Henan). The fate of the three armies is different.In the past, Yang Que often had border wars with Northern Qi, and he never lost.Quan Jingxuan fought steadily, successively accepting offerings from the governors of Yuzhou and Yongzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and took the initiative.Yu Chijiong's main force in the Northern Zhou Dynasty stormed Luoyang day after day, and Yu Wenxian, Daxiwu, Wang Xiong and others stationed troops at Mangshan to express their support. Luoyang was in an emergency, and Emperor Wucheng of Qi asked Duan Shao for help, but he was afraid that the Turks would take advantage of the situation and go south and be attacked on both sides.Duan Shao said in a letter: "The Turks invaded the north, but it is a trivial matter. The West is the confidant's serious trouble. As long as the Zhou army is defeated, the Turks will retreat." Emperor Wucheng of Qi was overjoyed and set off from Jinyang with Duan Shao to relieve the siege of Luoyang. Duan Shao climbed up the slope of Mang Mountain, carefully observed the Zhou army's formation, and immediately understood it.He ordered the Qi army to set up camp in the Taihe Valley to the east of Luoyang. He led the left army, Gao Changgong led the middle army, and Hu Luguang led the right army.The three heroes all came out, which shocked Zhou Jun and hurried up the mountain to fight.The Qi army fought and retreated, leading the Zhou army into the valley. Duan Shao asked Zhou Jun: "You Yuwenhu invaded our country just after reuniting with your mother. Why?" Yu Wenxian and others replied: "God sent us to teach you a lesson, why ask more questions!" Duan Shao laughed loudly: "The way of heaven rewards the good and punishes the evil, it must have sent you to die!" As he waved his hand, the Qi army behind him suddenly launched a counterattack. The Zhou army was in chaos. Gao Changgong led 500 cavalry to fight a bloody path among the Zhou army and came to the city of Jinyong.The guards at the head of Luoyang city were probably a trick of Bei Zhou, but they didn't recognize Gao Changgong for a while.Gao Changgong took off his helmet and looked up on the spot. When everyone saw that it was King Lanling, the army's morale was greatly boosted, and they went out of the city to meet him, defeating the Zhou army outside the city. (After this battle, the soldiers of the Northern Qi Dynasty co-created "The Song of the Lanling King Entering the Battle" to praise Gao Changgong's great achievements. "The Song of the Lanling King Entering the Battle" is accompanied by dances. Misrepresentation that Gao Changgong likes to wear a mask on the battlefield, but in fact this is just artistic processing, Gao Changgong should be wearing a heavy helmet at the time.) In this battle, the Qi army was all brave, and everyone scrambled to be the first. The Zhou army traveled more than 30 miles all the way with just discarded weapons and supplies. The fierce general Wang Xiong was shot and killed by Hu Luguang with an arrow.Mang Mountain has once again become Yuwen's sad place.