Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Sad Army Soul Wang Zhongsi

Many years ago, Jet Li said in the movie: I am a soldier, I can die, but I must not die by mistake. So, was it a mistake to die on the battlefield in the eighth year of Tianbao (749 A.D.) when Datang recovered Shibao City? Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, is located on the desolate Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surrounded by wind and clouds, backed by Huashi Mountain, facing the Yaoshui River, on the top of the red cliff, a silent stone castle, in the splendid picture scroll of the Tang Dynasty, has long been associated with There are too many things related to it: literati are discussing Du Fu and Li Bai, and historians are researching how Wang Zhongsi died because of it.What was taken away in one stroke was the lives of more than 10,000 soldiers, the wrong lives that died because of it.

Is Stone Castle important?important!Quite important!To the east of it is Longxi County, where "the riches of the world come from Longyou".In the splendid picture scroll of Tang Dynasty, it is the bracket supporting the northwest land. When Tubo in the southwest of the Tang Dynasty rose like a snowball after Songtsan Gampo.Shibao City has naturally become the focus of competition between Tang and Tibetans. From the beginning of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to the Kaiyuan era of Tang Dynasty, there were 6 large-scale battles between Tang and Tibetans around Shibao City. Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, no matter the cost.

Of course, regardless of the cost, if Tubo gets Shibao City, it can be used as a springboard to advance eastward, and then send troops to Longxi to take all the rich Helong Plain into its pocket.If the Tang Dynasty wins Shibao City, it can defend it according to the danger to curb the penetration and invasion of the Longxi Plain by the Tubo people.Since military strategists must contend, even if it is a bloody battlefield, it seems that it cannot be said to be a mistake. Therefore, when the young Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty ended the chaotic situation of Zhongzong Ruizong's two dynasties and started the prosperous Kaiyuan era with great efforts, his eyes were also fixed on Shibao City, which was being invaded by Tubo, and took it!You can play the peace of Datang.

So there was the expedition raid directed by Shuofang Jiedushi Li Yi.The Tang army concentrated elite cavalry and marched all the way to Shibao City in the starry night. A sudden attack brought this border town, which had been occupied for several decades, back to the embrace of the Tang Dynasty.As soon as the news came out, the whole country of Tubo was shocked, and envoys were hastily dispatched to communicate with each other. Since then, the civil and martial arts in Kaiyuan's prosperous age have reached their peak. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was happy, Shibao is really a place for Tang Dynasty to gain face.

Then there was the peaceful situation for decades from Kaiyuan to Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty. The news came: Stone Castle is lost again! It turned out that the Tubo people came to repeat their old tricks and took back Shibao City again with a beautiful surprise attack.This is already the twenty-ninth year of Kaiyuan, and it has been 13 years since the last time the Tang Dynasty recovered Shibao City. What if I lose it?Just call back.Do you want to do another surprise attack like last time?Impossible, Zhuge Liang's empty city plan was only used once, and people have already learned to see through such tricks, so what should we do?Is it only by storming at all costs?That will be a series of battles, a mountain of corpses and a river of blood.More importantly, if we regain it, the Tubo people will fight back again. Could it be that the two most powerful countries at that time can only see each other repeatedly in this tiny place?

Tang Xuanzong's attitude is very clear: Pull it down and see who can pull it better! In order to pull the saw well, Tang Xuanzong waved his hand: change generals.In exchange for one of the most ruthless people in the Datang Army at that time. Who knew that this most ruthless person rode his horse around the Longxi defense line, and then studied it for several nights with a lamp in front of the map, finally raised his head, and said calmly: There is no need to see the saw. This person was the Jiedushi of the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and Hedong in the Tang Dynasty, and the number one figure among the generals of the prosperous Tang Dynasty at that time——Wang Zhongsi.

With the half-life experience of an old general in the army, with a soldier's sense of responsibility beyond his official position and killing, Wang Zhongsi finally saw the truth hidden behind Shibaocheng: To consolidate the western frontier defense, it is not necessary to obtain Shibaocheng.For many years, countless fierce frontier generals failed to understand this situation, but Wang Zhongsi saw it, and he saw it very well. He saw that although the terrain of Shibao City is dangerous, no one can open it, but the key to contain the Tubo offensive is: to severely damage the enemy's vital forces in the face-to-face situation of the entire battlefield, and control the area that can most contain the enemy.For many years, Tang Dynasty and Tubo have been on the tip of the horns of Diamond Fort City, now, it is time to jump out.

So Wang Zhongsi jumped out and attacked.After careful deployment, the Tang army launched the Battle of Jishishan, which was aimed at attacking the elites on the western front of Tubo. After fierce fighting, the Tang army severely damaged the vital forces of Tubo.Controlled the Jishishan area.Then there is solid defense. Along the line of Jishi Mountain, the Tang army built large and small fortifications, and the defense in the northwest was connected into a line.At this point, the strategic position of Stone Castle City is no longer that important. Using the smallest cost to severely injure the enemy's vital forces and achieve the goal of guarding the frontier, this is Wang Zhongsi's awareness, which surpasses the awareness of dyeing Dai Hualing red with blood.

The work was done, the enlightened Wang Zhongsi happily wrote the work report, and happily returned to the capital to report to Tang Xuanzong, but he saw Tang Xuanzong's cold face: Why didn't Shibao City fight? Still playing?Wang Zhongsi was stunned, and spent a long time explaining: Now that the entire northwest defense line has been formed, the strategic position of Shibao City is no longer important, not to mention that attacking this place will cost many lives.So, no point. Wang Zhongsi thought he explained it very clearly, from the perspective of strategic value, economic value, and military value: this is a losing battle, and it is also a death-defying battle, so it cannot be fought!

Unexpectedly, after painstakingly explaining for a long time, Tang Xuanzong replied angrily: "It must be fought, and it must be fought immediately." Then he added another sentence: If you don't fight, I'll make a substitution. Wang Zhongsi was dumbfounded. He is really stupid. He has forgotten that he is not living in troubled times but in prosperous times. To live in prosperous times is to add bricks and tiles to prosperous times. The great achievements of Tang Dynasty not only need shiny GDP achievements to pull the banner, but also need bloody side work Let's pull the tiger's skin.So tens of thousands of pieces of cannon fodder and a huge consumption of war materials, you, Wang Zhongsi, looked at Jingui without batting an eyelid in the eyes of the emperor.

In the eyes of the soldiers, the stone fortress is a strategic location, but in the eyes of the emperor, it is just a gimmick for publicity in the prosperous age.But this face-saving project is not as simple as building a house with sand. Wang Zhongsi doesn’t understand this truth, but many people do, so a well-meaning person who understands this truth reminds Wang Zhongsi: If the emperor wants face, give it to him; if you want to make tiger skin, make it for him. You are the coach, and you don’t have to die. You go in person, the small stone castle, and you can take it down with cannon fodder.At that time, there will be a lot of tickets for being promoted, rich and wealthy.If you don't fight, the emperor will beat you! Wang Zhongsi understood all kinds of points, but understanding is understanding, and awareness is awareness. Facing the worries of his favorite general Li Guangbi and others, Wang Zhongsi smiled slightly and uttered the loud and powerful words: how can tens of thousands of people die? Yi Yiguan! The cannon fodder in the eyes of the emperor is the life in Wang Zhongsi's heart. Brother Paoze, who share life and death, exchange their blood for my official position and the project of whitewashing the peace. I can't do it!Stone Castle!I don't fight! Unfortunately, those well-meaning people said that if you don't beat me, the emperor will beat you. Because of his death on the issue of Shibao City, Wang Zhongsi offended Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and his political enemy Li Linfu made trouble from it, and framed Wang Zhongsi for being involved in the most sensitive "establishment scandal".In the seventh year of Tianbao (748 A.D.), he was escorted to the capital to lift his military power. Tang Xuanzong wanted to cut him down, but he couldn't bear the tears and pleas of the officers such as Ge Shuhan. Suiyang) prefect, died of illness the following year.A generation of famous generals in the battlefield ended up in such depression. It was said that treacherous ministers framed the emperor for being stupid, but it was all caused by the face project of Shibao City. But the disaster caused by this face project is not over yet.In the eighth year of Tianbao, after careful preparations, Tang Xuanzong took Ge Shuhan as his general and led 60,000 elite soldiers to officially launch the Battle of Shibao City.Just like the script of the previous battle, this is another life-and-death struggle. Tens of thousands of Tang troops forcibly crossed the Yaoshui River, and then climbed the cliff one after another. Then came the Tubo people's arrow rain and rolling stones. The battle lasted for several days. The corpses piled up like a mountain, and the impatient Ge Shuhan killed Gao Fengyan, the siege adjutant, and issued a death order to break the city within a time limit.Finally, Shibao City was captured at the cost of more than 10,000 lives, and the number of enemies wiped out even with the prisoners was less than 600.Everything is as Wang Zhongsi said in his previous report to Tang Xuanzong: a business that loses money, and a battle to die. But if I lose money, I will lose money, and I am not going to die, but I finally have face, so Tang Xuanzong was happy, Ge Shuhan was promoted to rank, and Wang Zhongsi died in Hubei. So there was Li Bai's mocking chant: You can't learn from Ge Shu, who ran rampant in Qinghai night with a knife, and west Tu Shicheng to take the purple robe. But Tang Xuanzong did not expect that this face project would cause harm to the Tang Dynasty, and it would not end. As a result, Wang Zhongsi was out of the game, and the Tang Dynasty lost an important force to restrict the Anlushan feudal town, so that Anlushan raised the flag to rebel 7 years later, and the early Tang Dynasty was unstoppable and lost a lot.At the same time, the tens of thousands of soldiers of the Tang Dynasty buried in Shibao City are mostly veterans of the Tang Dynasty.What is even more ironic is that the Tang Dynasty, which seized Shibao City at all costs, did not defend the Hexi Corridor because of this.Following the Anlushan rebellion, when the Tang Dynasty transferred the Northwest Army back to the Central Plains to suppress the rebellion, Tubo took advantage of the vacancy and occupied the Hexi area without bloodshed. This is the "Shame of Hehuang" that made countless people sigh after the middle of the Tang Dynasty. In my opinion, all this is retribution. More than 10,000 lives were buried on the Qinghai Plateau in this way.In the wild grass, what will people remember?Recalling Wang Zhongsi's tragic fate, Li Bai's bitter sarcasm, and Ge Shuhan's anxious face.But who remembers the tragedy that caused more than 10,000 soldiers to die in the wrong way. The war movies on TV were played happily, and there was an introductory line that said: "They are the cannon fodder destined to be sacrificed..." But I only think of Wang Zhongsi's bold words, those words transcended the victory and defeat of the battlefield, passed through the dust of history, but are still deafeningly loud, lonely by the Yaoshui River, with this desolate stone castle city. But General Wang Zhongsi is not lonely, because more than 1,000 years later in North Korea, on the 38th parallel, an old man named Peng Dehuai gave a similar answer to the exasperated questioning of the Soviet adviser. It is not easy for the common people to raise a baby. If you send it to me as a soldier, I will be responsible for them. I believe that in the face of war, only those who are responsible for their lives can get the eternal respect of war.