Chapter 8 Only a true hero knows how to appreciate his opponent

Gao Yanshou's entire army was wiped out, which shocked the whole country of Korea. The Koryo soldiers and civilians in Houhuangcheng, Yincheng and other places (both in the north of Xiuyan County, Liaoning Province) located behind Anshi City were like frightened birds. They fled from the city one after another, and ran across the Yalu River in one breath. The hundreds of miles behind Anshi were suddenly deserted.Anshi has completely become an isolated city. However, this isolated city, which is almost within reach, has become the Waterloo in Li Shimin's military career. The defense of Anshi City is exceptionally strong, and the resistance of the Anshi army and civilians is also unexpectedly tenacious.

The Tang army besieged for more than a month, but Anshi City remained motionless. Whenever Li Shimin's royal driver passed under the city of Anshi, the defenders on the city beat drums and shouted, wantonly making fun of the emperor of Tang Dynasty, with extremely arrogant arrogance. Seeing the emperor's face turning blue and then pale, Li Shiji angrily proposed—"On the day of the Kecheng, all men will be tortured!" (Volume 198) The terrible news quickly spread throughout Anshi City.The soldiers and civilians in the city became more and more united in hatred, and all the people were soldiers. Everyone was determined to live and die with the city, and the resistance to the Tang army became more tenacious.

The war fell into a stalemate, and it was almost late autumn in a blink of an eye. The early cold in Liaodong, if it continues like this, when the vegetation dries up and the river freezes, it will be more difficult for the Tang army to supply logistics. At that time, a large number of soldiers and horses may not die on the battlefield, but freeze to death in the snow. In the field! what to do? At the critical moment, Goryeo generals Gao Yanshou and Gao Huizhen stood up and offered advice.They suggested to Li Shimin: "Nowadays, the people of Anshi are all soldiers and they fight for themselves. This city is absolutely not easy to attack. I have led more than 100,000 people in Koryo, but they are invincible. Once it collapses, the people of the country will be terrified. The current plan , it is better to bypass An City and go straight to Black Bone City. The owner of Black Bone City is old, and the army will surely go to Xike, and other small cities on the way will also flee. There will be no shortage, and then take advantage of the victory to advance, and Pyongyang is just around the corner!"

This plan has the support of the vast majority of generals.They said: "Our army still has Zhang Liang's 40,000 navy in the south. You can order him to march towards Black Bone City immediately, join forces with the main force, capture Black Bone City, and then cross the Yalu River to take Pyongyang directly." If it is said that Li Daozong's detour suggestion could not move Li Shimin's heart at all, then Li Shimin's thoughts had to change at this moment.Firstly, so many people support this plan, which shows that it is very feasible; secondly, Li Shimin has witnessed the tenacious fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in Anshi, which has weakened his self-confidence to a considerable extent.

Therefore, after pondering for a while, Li Shimin quickly agreed to the detour plan. But at this moment, Changsun Wuji spoke. He said: "The Son of Heaven's personal conquest is different from your generals. You can't take chances. There are still more than 100,000 defenders in Anshi and Jian'an. If you bypass them and attack Wugu, in case the troops from the two cities are full Come out, what should we do if we attack our backs? Therefore, I thought that we should break through An City first, then take Jian'an, and then drive forward, this is the best strategy." Here, whether to detour has become a decisive move in the entire Koryo War.

If the detour plan is not adopted, and the hard nail of Anshicheng is determined to be pulled out, the threat of early cold in Liaodong will have to be faced.If Anshi City cannot be won in winter, then Li Shimin can only choose to withdraw his troops, and this expedition will fall short. And if it bypasses Anshi and goes straight to Pyongyang, it seems to be a surprise coup, but the Tang army's transportation supply line is bound to be even longer.If Pyongyang is not as weakly defended as people imagined, but as smelly and tough as Anshicheng, then the situation will be even more dangerous - not only the weather is severe, the lack of supplies, but also the enemy will be attacked, and the consequences will be unimaginable.Wasn't Yang Guang's first personal conquest back then a disastrous defeat because of the detour and lack of food and grass?

Therefore, no matter which strategy there is, there are advantages and disadvantages, and there is absolutely no so-called one-size-fits-all strategy. How can I do? It's a tough choice. In the end, Li Shimin's inner balance leaned towards Changsun Wuji. He decided to give up the detour plan and take Anshi before winter comes—if he doesn't take Anshi, he will never give up! Now that the emperor has made up his mind, the soldiers can only risk their lives to fight. In the days that followed, Tang Jun launched an unprecedented and violent attack on Anshi City.The soldiers launched six or seven rounds of charges every day, and all kinds of siege weapons were also pulled up. However, the walls of the city of Anshi were high and thick, and the huge stones thrown by the trebuchet could only smash down the battlements on the city wall (in ancient times, the battlements on the city wall Building low and short walls so that the defenders can use them to cover themselves) cannot knock down the walls at all.Even on the collapsed battlements, the Anshi defenders were able to immediately build wooden fences at the gaps, making it impossible for the Tang army to take advantage of them.

Seeing that the weather is getting colder every day, the hope of victory is getting slimmer.In desperation, Li Daozong came up with a solution-to build an earth mountain. Build a mound of earth higher than the city wall of An City, and then launch an attack from the top! Afterwards, it took Tang Jun 60 days and the labor of 500,000 person-times to finally build a mound of earth several feet higher than the city wall of An City. An Shicheng was completely exposed under Tang Jun's eyes. The most important thing is: the buildings and streets of Anshi City are completely exposed within the range of the trebuchet!

It is conceivable that if there are no accidents, Anshi City will be completely smashed by Tang Jun's heavy-duty trebuchets just like Gaochang City in the Western Regions back then, and no matter how stubborn the Anshi soldiers and civilians are, they will definitely be obedient in the end. Open the door and surrender. However, this world is always full of accidents, and history is always full of accidents. On the day when this large-scale project was about to be completed, there was a sudden and earth-shattering loud noise outside the city of Anshi—the landslide collapsed. General Tang Jun was completely dumbfounded.

At the same moment, the soldiers and civilians in Anshi almost cried out. Because a section of the city wall in Anshi City was collapsed by the earth mountain! The siege, which had been stalemate for three months, suddenly had an extremely thrilling and dramatic scene. At this time, as long as the Tang army seized the opportunity and rushed in from the collapsed city wall, Anshi City would basically be in the pocket of the Tang army. But as we said, history is full of chance. At this critical moment, Fu Fuai, the general of the Tang army who was in charge of guarding the earth mountain, went for a stroll and was not in the barracks at all. Only a group of soldiers were left at a loss in the face of this sudden situation.It took a long time for someone to react, and hurriedly ran to the base camp to report the situation.

Taking advantage of Tang Jun's stunned gap, the Korean army responded quickly.The general defending the city immediately organized a death squad of hundreds of people, rushed out from the collapsed gap, and attacked the Tang army guarding the earth mountain.The Tang army's guard force was originally small in number, and the general deserted again, and the troops had no command, and they suddenly became chaotic.So those who were killed were killed, and those who fled fled. In just a moment, the earth mountain that took two months to build was handed over to the Koreans. After the Koryo army occupied the territory, they immediately dug trenches, built fortifications, and sent heavy troops to guard them. When the Supreme Command of the Tang Army got the news, Tushan had already become a strong fortress in the hands of the Koreans. Li Shimin's lungs were about to explode, and he immediately dragged the negligent general Fu Fu'ai out and chopped off his head, and then issued a death order to all the generals—take back Tushan at all costs! For the next three days and nights, wave after wave of Tang soldiers launched uninterrupted attacks on this small area, and the Koryo army also put up the most tenacious resistance. Everyone knows the importance of this earth mountain.As long as Tang Jun takes it back, Anshicheng will be finished immediately; as long as the Koreans defend it desperately, Anshicheng will be able to sit back and relax. Therefore, both parties are doing their best and are determined to win! Those three days and nights were nothing short of a nightmare.The two sides threw countless corpses on the small dirt hill, and blood stained every inch of the land here.However, three full days have passed, and Tushan is still firmly in the hands of the Koreans. It was almost late September at this time, and three months had passed since the Tang army besieged Anshi City.The grass and trees all over the mountains and plains are already withered and yellow, the biting north wind is whistling in the ears, and the soldiers of the Tang army are still wearing thin summer clothes, and the food and grass are gradually running out. It seems that this battle cannot be fought no matter what. In addition to these factors, the situation in Mobei suddenly became tense at this time.Xue Yantuo's Zhenzhu Khan died of illness on the seventh day of September. After his son established himself as Domi Khan, he began to move around and sent small groups of troops to harass the Hetao area. All the circumstances indicated that the all-out war between the Tang Empire and Xue Yantuo was inevitable. Therefore, no matter which aspect you look at, Li Shimin has no choice but to withdraw his troops from Korea immediately! On September 18th, the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin gave the teacher's order with a sad expression. The entire withdrawal operation was methodical.Li Shimin first ordered all the residents of Liaozhou, Gaizhou, and Yanzhou to be relocated to the country, and then set up a grand military appearance under the city of Anshi, letting the troops retreat slowly in a neat and majestic phalanx. If he wanted to come, Tang Jun would come boldly and vigorously. If he wants to leave, Tang Jun must also walk calmly and decently! The city lord of Anshi stood on the city wall riddled with holes, watching the banners and troops of the Tang army drifting away, and bid farewell with a respectful mood. And Li Shimin also highly praised the perseverance and unyielding spirit of the city lord of Anshi. Before leaving, he specially gave him a hundred pieces of silk and satin to encourage him to be loyal to the king and defend the country. This is a touching scene. On the battlefield, they are your opponents to the death; but once the war is over, they can all express a kind of heartfelt respect to each other with a rare sincerity.This is undoubtedly commendable. In the West, this may be called chivalry.In the East, this is called heroes cherishing heroes! Only a true hero knows how to appreciate his opponent. Li Shimin would never have expected that this personal conquest of Korea would start with a crushing victory and end with a helpless withdrawal of troops. On this land of Liaodong, Li Shimin at this moment is the same as Yang Guang 33 years ago, sowing the seeds of confidence and hope, but reaping the fruits of frustration and failure. Two generations of emperors smugly conquered Goryeo in person, but they encountered exactly the same historical fate. Li Shimin feels that his fame will be ruined once.On the way to the class teacher, he couldn't help looking up to the sky and sighing: "If Wei Zheng is here, I won't be able to do what I want!" (Volume 198) Although this personal conquest, Li Shimin, like Yang Guang, failed to achieve the strategic goal of flattening Goryeo, but judging from the results of the war, the gains and losses of Li Shimin and Yang Guang are quite different, and it can even be said that there is a world of difference. First of all, the price paid by the two is different. Yang Guang dispatched more than one million troops in his first personal expedition to Korea, which consumed countless manpower and material resources, and almost dragged down the country's finances at once.Moreover, the Sui army also suffered a lot of casualties and losses in the battle. Leaving aside the previous battles, only the 35,000 men led by Yu Wenshu in the last long-distance raid lost all at once when they retreated to Sashui. Three hundred and twenty-three hundred people, almost the entire army was wiped out, and hundreds of millions of weapons, equipment, and luggage were lost at the same time. Looking back at Li Shimin's personal conquest, the total strength of the Tang army was no more than a few hundred thousand, which was only one-tenth of the Sui army, and according to records, the total number of Tang troops killed in this battle was only 2,000.Although this number is very doubtful, even if you add a zero to it, counting it as 20,000 people, it is just a drop in the bucket compared with the Sui army. Second, the results obtained by the two are different. When Yang Guang conquered Korea, he was dragged for three full months just under the city of Liaodong, and he was still unable to advance half a step.Later, although Yu Wenshu bypassed Liaodong and went straight to Pyongyang, he fell into the strategy of the Koreans to lure the enemy into deep, and finally the entire army was wiped out, which was not enough for training; But the result was loss of soldiers and generals, and nothing was gained. On the contrary, the Tang army almost swept across the entire Liaodong region in this war, and successively conquered ten cities including Xuantu, Hengshan, Gaimu, Momi, Liaodong, Baiyan, Beisha, Maigu, Yinshan, and Houhuang. It was abandoned due to the withdrawal of troops, but the 70,000 residents of Liaozhou, Gaizhou, and Yanzhou were moved to China, leaving the major military towns that Koryo had operated for a long time in Liaodong empty and turned into deserted and dead cities.In addition, the Tang army captured a total of more than 40,000 heads, and the 150,000 troops of Gao Yanshou were completely defeated in the battle of Bishan alone, greatly annihilating the vitality of the Koryo army; The 3,500 well-trained officers were all sent back to serve in China, gaining an intangible military fortune. Finally, and most importantly, Li Shimin and Yang Guang learned very different lessons from their failures. Although the two had the same frustration after withdrawing from Korea, and the determination to conquer Korea the second time, Yang Guang did not gain any valuable experience and lessons from the failure.During the second Eastern Expedition, he pulled out an army of one million people as usual, and ordered Yu Wenshu to go around Liaodong and attack Pyongyang as usual, and he buried himself in the city of Liaodong for two months as usual, with a simple mind and well-developed limbs. look like.Later, although he came up with the idea of ​​building a "cloth bag road" (similar to the Tang army's "building earth mountains"), it was only a small tactical change after all, which could not play a decisive role in the entire war, so Yang Xuangan's rebellion broke out , Yang Guang had to withdraw his troops hastily, making the second conquest of Goryeo fruitless, which is a typical funny move of tripping twice on one stone. On the other hand, Li Shimin, the failure of his personal conquest of Korea had a great impact on him, and he finally found out the crux of the failure, that is-ignoring the huge role that the navy should play in transporting supplies and maneuvering around. In this Eastern Expedition, although Li Shimin also dispatched a navy of 40,000 soldiers led by Zhang Liang, its proportion in the total force of the sea and land is not low, but looking at the performance of this navy throughout the war, it is true. It's a little bit off.Except for the capture of Beisha City in the early stage, and the cooperation with the army in the later period to attack Jian'an City in the south of Anshi, the only military action that made people feel bright was that the navy sent a partial division led by Qiu Xiaozhong to directly attack the city. We drove to the mouth of the Yalu River.But the history books are vague about what they went to do. It is said that they just went to "Yaobing", so we can only understand it as a reconnaissance mission to spy on the deployment of the Koryo army on the line from the Yalu River to Pyongyang. It can be seen from the above that Zhang Liang's navy did not really play an important role in this Eastern Expedition.In addition to Zhang Liang's own limited ability, the most important reason is that Li Shimin's strategic thinking is problematic—— He didn't want the navy to take on any important tasks at all. At most, he just asked them to play side drums and sing supporting roles for the army in the Liaodong Peninsula! Although Li Shimin also sent people to transport grain and grass from the states of Henan to the Laizhou military port before the war, and let the navy undertake part of the transportation task, but the quantity is far from enough, and it is still only a supplement to the land transportation line. Most of the food supplies It was still transported from the states of Hebei to Huaiyuan Town on the border of Liaodong. Here, Li Shimin made the same mistake as Yang Guang - relying too much on land transportation lines! Therefore, when there were several disputes over whether to detour during the war, Li Shimin's biggest concern was that the land supply line was cut off by the Koryo army in the rear, just like Yu Wenshu's detour attack back then failed because the rear was unable to supply food and grass! In this sense, the key to the success or failure of the Koryo War is not whether to bypass Liaodong. Regarding this Eastern Expedition to Koryo, most commentators of later generations believed that if Li Daozong and others' suggestions were adopted, and the Tang army could take Pyongyang directly across the Yalu River, the Tang army might win by surprise. However, this is really a pedantic talk that forgets the lessons of history.Didn't Yang Guang send his army around back then?But the result is not the whole army wiped out? Therefore, the reason why Li Shimin failed now is not at all because he did not adopt the detour plan. If Li Shimin really went around, maybe the ending would be even worse, maybe it would not even be possible to preserve his vitality and retreat decently. Whether it was Yang Guang's three campaigns and three defeats back then, or Li Shimin's failure today, there is only one common reason - ignoring the navy! It is precisely because of a deep understanding of this point that Li Shimin's eyes locked on the navy after he was taught in Korea. He decided to build the most powerful naval force in the world at that time! In September of the 21st year of Zhenguan (AD 647), Li Shimin issued an edict ordering "Wang Boli, the governor of Songzhou, and others, sent workers from twelve states in the south of the Yangtze River to build hundreds of large ships, in order to conquer Korea" (Volume 198). In June of the 22nd year of Zhenguan (648 A.D.), "Shang (Li Shimin) proposed to send 300,000 people next year to destroy them in one fell swoop because of the disadvantages of Goryeo. It may be thought that the army must prepare food for the years when it is marching eastward. What can be carried by livestock, it is better to use boats for water transportation... In July, loggers were cut down in Jiannan Road to build boats. The larger ones may be a hundred feet long and half as wide. Yang, Qulaizhou." (Volume 199) When the army marches eastward, the rear must store food and grass for more than a year.However, it is difficult for such a large amount of transportation to be undertaken by land "livestock vehicles" alone. Therefore, a sea transportation line should be opened up, and "boats" should be used to undertake the main logistical supply work. This is the most important experience and lesson Li Shimin gained after his failure in the Eastern Conquest of Korea. For Yang Guang, failure would only drive him crazy and accelerate his extinction; but for Li Shimin, failure would broaden his horizons, enrich his war experience, and enhance his military wisdom. Although it was not a holiday, God did not give Li Shimin more time to conquer Goryeo by himself, but after the failure of the first Eastern Expedition, we can clearly see that whether it was Li Shimin's series of harassment wars against Goryeo in his later years, or the Later, in the series of wars during Tang Gaozong's conquest of the Korean Peninsula, the powerful navy established by Li Shimin in his later years played an incomparable role in single-armed operations in terms of transporting supplies, maneuvering around, and cooperating with the army. It was Li Shimin who deeply learned the experience and lessons of the failure of the Goryeo War that enabled the Tang Empire to pacify Goryeo and Baekje in the reign of Emperor Gaozong, and then control the situation of the entire Korean Peninsula. In this sense, although Goryeo died in the reign of Gaozong in the end, why didn't it die in the hands of Taizong?