Chapter 52 143 Li Shimin Takes the Eastern Capital

While Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, the rebel armies in various places also continued to grow.In addition to the Wagang Army, the main Hebei Uprising Army led by Dou Jiande and the Jianghuai Uprising Army led by Du Fuwei continued to attack the Sui Army in various places.The brutal and licentious Sui Yang Emperor himself knew that the end was coming, so he simply hid in Jiangdu, drinking and having fun with the queen and concubine every day, getting very drunk. He didn't want to hear the news of failure, but he panicked in the end, and said to Empress Xiao: "I heard that there are many people outside who want to plot against me, so leave him alone, let's drink happily."

Once, he picked up a mirror, looked at it blankly for a while, and said, "What a head, I don't know who will chop it off!" The day that Emperor Sui Yang was worried about finally arrived.Most of the guard soldiers around him are from the Guanzhong area.Seeing that there was no way out for them to follow Emperor Sui Yang, they all wanted to desert and go home.General Yu Wenhua took advantage of the soldiers' desire to go home and launched a mutiny.Yu Wenhua led the soldiers to attack the palace and sent people to monitor Sui Yang Emperor. Emperor Sui Yang said to the monitoring officials, "What crime did I commit?"

The official said: "You started the war with extravagance; you believed in treachery and refused advice; you caused men to die on the battlefield, women and children to die, and the people to be displaced. Do you still say that you are not guilty?" Emperor Sui Yang said: "I am indeed sorry to the common people, but you people also follow me to enjoy wealth and honor, so I am not sorry to you. Who took the lead in doing this today?" The official said: "Everyone in the whole country hates you, you stupid king, how can you lead by yourself!" Only then did Emperor Sui Yang have nothing to say, and he untied the scarf and handed it to the officials.This wicked ruler was thus strangled to death.The Sui Dynasty, which ruled China for thirty-eight years, came to an end.

After the death of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Sui Dynasty, remained in the hands of Yang Tong (the grandson of Emperor Yang) and his minister Wang Shichong.Wang Shichong made Yang Tong the emperor, and continued to fight against the rebels under the banner of the Sui Dynasty. The area around Dongdu was originally the area where the Wagang uprising army was active. Li Mi defeated the Sui army many times, but because of Li Mi's pride and self-satisfaction, he and the generals were suspicious of each other. .Wang Shichong saw Li Mi's weakness and launched an attack, defeating Li Mi's army.Li Mi fled to Chang'an to join the Tang Dynasty with his defeated soldiers.

Wang Shichong drove Li Mi away, thought himself powerful, deposed Yang Tong, and established himself as emperor with the name of Zheng. At this time, the Tang army had flattened several powerful separatist forces in the northwest and stabilized the rear.In 620 AD, Tang Gaozu sent Li Shimin to lead an army to attack the Eastern Capital.As soon as Li Shimin's army left the pass, many prefectures and counties in Henan surrendered one after another, and soon surrounded Dongdu. Li Shimin is not only good at fighting, but also good at employing people.He took in a group of generals from the original Wagang Army and other separatist forces.The well-known Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin, and Yuchi Jingde (Yichi is the surname, Weiyin yu, all became his right-hand assistants. Once, Li Shimin personally led 500 cavalry to patrol the position, and was discovered by Wang Shichong. Thousands of infantry and cavalry suddenly surrounded him. Wang Shichong's general Shan Xiongxin rushed to Li Shimin's side and stabbed him with a spear. Yuchi Jingde, who was behind Li Shimin, caught up on a flying horse, shouted, and stabbed Shan Xiongxin off his horse. Yuchi Jingde Protecting Li Shimin from protruding from the encirclement, the two of them led the cavalry and turned around to charge back and forth in Zheng Jun's position, frightening Zheng Jun's position. Then, Tang Jun came up continuously from behind and defeated Zheng Jun completely.

From the autumn of this year to the spring of the next year, the Tang army surrounded Dongdu more and more tightly, attacking the city day and night.Wang Shichong kept a tight defense in the city, constantly attacking the Tang army outside the city with stone cannons and crossbow arrows.After a long time, the generals of the Tang army also felt tired. Some people suggested to Li Shimin to temporarily stop the attack and return to Chang'an to rest and fight again. Li Shimin said: "Now all the surrounding states have surrendered. Luoyang has become an isolated city. It will be captured sooner or later. How can it be stopped halfway." Then he issued an order to the soldiers: "If you don't capture the eastern capital, you will never retreat."

Wang Shichong was cornered, so he had to send people out of the city secretly, and rushed to Hebei to seek help from Dou Jiande. The uprising army led by Dou Jiande is a powerful force in Hebei.After Wang Shichong proclaimed himself Emperor Zheng, Dou Jiande also proclaimed himself emperor, his country was called Xia, and he captured many lands of the Tang army.He received Wang Shichong's distress letter, and led 300,000 people to rescue the eastern capital by land and water. On the other hand, he sent an envoy to send a letter to Li Shimin, asking Li Shimin to return to Guanzhong. Many generals of the Tang army were frightened by the strong strength of the Xia army, and advocated leaving the eastern capital temporarily.But some people think that Wang Shichong's army is still strong, and what he lacks is food.If Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong are allowed to join forces and use Hebei's grain to help Dongdu, then there is no hope of victory.

Therefore, we must block Dou Jiande's army going south. Li Shimin accepted this opinion, left Li Yuanji in Dongdu and continued to besiege Wang Shichong, and led more than 3,000 elite soldiers to the north to guard Wulao Pass (that is, Hulao Pass. In today's Sishui Town, Xingyang, Henan). Dou Jiande's army arrived at Wulao Pass and was stopped by Tang soldiers. Xia Jun launched several attacks without success, but Li Shimin sent light cavalry to cut off the road and cut off Xia Jun's grain road. Dou Jiande thought that he had a strong army and was not afraid that he would not be able to conquer Wulao Pass.He rejected the dissuasion of his subordinates and his wife, ordered the whole army to dispatch, set up a formation, and rushed over with clamor.

Li Shimin went to the high ground to observe Xia's formation, and said: "Dou Jiande has never encountered a strong opponent. From his formation, it can be seen that he is proud and underestimates the enemy. We just need to stand still and wait for their soldiers to get tired. can beat them." The soldiers of the Xia army set up their positions, ready to confront.However, from morning to noon, no Tang army came out to fight. The soldiers were tired and hungry. Some sat on the ground, and some went to the river beach to scoop water to drink.As soon as Li Shimin saw that the time had come, he ordered his soldiers to cross the Si River and head straight for Dou Jiande's camp.

Dou Jiande was meeting with his generals in the camp when he heard the cavalry of the Tang army rushing forward, so he hurriedly commanded the cavalry to fight.There was a fierce battle between the two sides, dust was flying on the ground, and arrows fell like rain. Taking advantage of Xia Jun's unpreparedness, Li Shimin led a team to rush behind Xia Jun's formation, and raised the banner of Tang Jun.The soldiers of the Xia army looked back, thinking that the Tang army had already occupied the camp, and they had no intention of fighting again, so they rushed to escape.Dou Jiande was injured in the melee and was captured by the Tang army.

After Dou Jiande failed, Li Shimin returned to besiege Dongdu.Wang Shichong still wanted to break out of the siege, but the soldiers said: "Now King Xia has failed, and it is useless for us to break out of the siege." Seeing that the general situation was over, Wang Shichong had to surrender to the Tang army. Dou Jiande was sent to Chang'an and was killed soon after. His general Liu Heita (sound ta) led the Hebei Xia army and continued to fight against the Tang army.It took Tang Jun another three years to stabilize the Hebei area.In 623 AD, Tang's war to unify China basically ended.However, the contradictions within the royal family of the Tang Dynasty became acute.