Chapter 34 The Road to Famous Generals: Su Dingfang's Western Expedition

In the spring of the second year of Yonghui (AD 651), Gaozong Li Zhi, who had just ascended the throne, was proudly managing the vast empire left by Emperor Taizong. At this time, a disturbing news came from the Western Regions. . The news was delivered by Luo Hongyi, the governor of Tingzhou (now Jimsar County, Xinjiang), who sent a horse to the capital.He said in the memorial that Ashina Helu, the former general of the Western Turks, who was then the general of Zuo Xiaowei and the governor of Yaochi (now Fukang City, Xinjiang), had been secretly summoning the old troops, and his power was growing day by day. Taking advantage of Taizong's death and the new king's accession to the throne, he launched a rebellion and attacked Xizhou (now east of Turpan City, Xinjiang) and Tingzhou.

This news immediately aroused Gaozong's high vigilance, and he immediately sent his Tongshi Sheren Qiao Baoming to Yaochi to comfort Ashina Helu, which was actually a warning to him. The arrival of the special envoy of the Son of Heaven greatly astonished Ashina Helu, who did not expect that his actions would be noticed by the court so soon. The special envoy Qiao Baoming also brought the emperor's will, ordering Ashina Helu's eldest son Ashina to be transported to the court as a hostage.As the preparations for the rebellion were not sufficient, Ashina Helu had no choice but to bite the bullet and obey the imperial court's arrangement.

Here, the young Gaozong clearly made a good move.Because of this, Ashina Helu, who was wary of rats, naturally did not dare to act rashly.If Gaozong had held Ashina as a hostage for a long time, then Ashina Helu would never have turned against the Tang Dynasty, nor would there have been such a big commotion in the next few years. Unfortunately, perhaps because Gaozong was still young and lacked political experience, it didn't take long to put Ashina back.He probably thought that such a small shock would be enough to make Ashina Helu give up the idea of ​​rebellion.But he was wrong, Ashina Helu's ambition was much bigger than he imagined.

After Ashina returned to Yaochi, Ashina Helu immediately led his troops to the west and defected from the Tang Dynasty. Ashina Helu's departure was like a tiger returning to the mountain, and the border of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty was immediately covered with a thick cloud of war. At this time, the reigning Khan of the Western Turks was Yibi Shekui, who was mediocre, and the various tribes of the Western Turks had long disobeyed his rule. Immediately messed up.He hastily gathered his people to resist Ashina Helu, but he was defeated in the first battle, and all his people were annexed by Ashina Helu.

Ashina Helu pacified the Western Turkic Khan in the First World War, and his ambitions were greatly expanded. Then he established a royal court in Shuanghe and Qianquan (now northern Kyrgyzstan), and established himself as Shaboluo Khan.The ten tribes directly under the original Yibishekui Khan all joined them. Within a few months, Ashina Helu transformed himself into the number one figure in Western Turks, with hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers under his command.Later, the two tribes of Chuyue (in today's Xinyuan County, Xinjiang) and Chumi (in today's Tacheng, Xinjiang), as well as the countries of the Western Regions, took refuge in Ashina Helu one after another.

In this way, a powerful enemy of the Tang Dynasty on the northwest border rose brazenly. In July of the second year of Yonghui, the proud Ashina Helu personally led his troops to invade Tingzhou, and soon captured Jinling City (now northwest of Shanshan County, Xinjiang) and Pulei County, strategically important places in Tingzhou. (now southeast of Qitai County, Xinjiang), killed and captured thousands of Tang troops. Gaozong Li Zhi was furious, and at the same time regretted his carelessness.In the next few years, Emperor Gaozong successively sent Liang Jianfang, Cheng Zhijie and others to carry out two western expeditions. Although they occupied some land and wiped out some vital forces of the Western Turks, they still failed to achieve the most important strategic goal—to pacify the Ashina Helu.

In this regard, Gaozong Li Zhi was naturally extremely unwilling. In the first month of the second year of Xianqing (AD 657), that is, just two months after the second Western Expedition ended, Gaozong announced the launch of the third expedition to the Western Turks. The commander of this expedition is Su Dingfang, who made great achievements in the second Western Expedition. Su Dingfang, a native of Jizhou, made his debut very early, but his life was full of twists and turns.In the last years of the great cause, the world was in turmoil, and thieves flocked. Su Dingfang's father, Su Yong, led thousands of villages in the county to fight against the thieves. strength and courage" ("Old Tang Book·Su Dingfang Biography").Later, Su Yong died in battle, and the county guard asked Su Dingfang to take over his father's army and take charge of the crusade against the thief Zhang Jincheng in the south of the county.Su Dingfang lived up to everyone's expectations, smashed the thieves, and killed Zhang Jincheng, the leader of the bandit; soon, Yang Gongqing gathered a crowd to revolt in the west of the county, and Su Dingfang quickly defeated him and killed many people. respect and admiration.

Since then, the flames of war between the heroes gradually turned into a prairie fire. Su Dingfang knew that the Sui Dynasty had existed in name only, so he immediately defected to Dou Jiande.Dou Jiande's general Gao Yaxian appreciated him very much and adopted him as his adopted son.Unfortunately, not long after, Dou Jiande was defeated and died. Su Dingfang had no choice but to follow Liu Heitai with Gao Yaxian. When the Tang army was pacified, Su Dingfang had no choice but to disarm and return to the fields, and lived in seclusion in the countryside. After a long circle, Su Dingfang became an unknown commoner again.It was not until the early years of Zhenguan that Su Ding, who had passed his forty years, joined the army again and restarted his military career.In Li Jing's campaign to pacify the Eastern Turks, Su Dingfang acted as the vanguard and raided Jieli Khan at Qikou, successfully broke through Jieli's tooth tent and surrendered a large number of Jieli's troops, paving the way for the final victory of the Tang army. Once again, he showed his extraordinary courage.

Despite such military exploits, Su Dingfang in the Zhenguan period is still very inconspicuous among the brilliant generals of the early Tang Dynasty.In the year when he participated in the Second Western Expedition, Su Dingfang was already over 60 years old, similar in age to Cheng Zhijie, but his position was only a mere Zhonglang general, basically a small person. However, no one would have thought that this very old and unknown Su Dingfang would soon shake the Western Regions and become famous in the ruling and opposition circles. Perhaps even Su Dingfang himself would not have expected that in the yellow sands of the desert in the Western Regions, a road to a late blooming star had quietly opened under his feet.

In order to ensure the victory of the third expedition, the Tang army was divided into two groups, focusing on both conquest and appeasement: one was led by Su Dingfang (who had been promoted to General Youtunwei at this time) as the chief officer, and Yan Ran was appointed as the governor, and the deputy governor was appointed as the deputy governor. Xiao Siye was the deputy general manager, recruited Huihe cavalry, and attacked the Western Turks directly from the northern line; the other route was the surrender of the Western Turks - General Ashinamishe of the Right Guard and General Ashina Buzhen of the Left Tunwei were the pacifying ambassadors. Going west from the southern line, they are responsible for recruiting their old troops in Western Turks.

In the spring of this year, the two armies of the Tang Dynasty marched towards the northwest in mighty force.Su Dingfang led the main force along the Jinshan (now the Altai Mountains in Xinjiang) mountain range, approaching the Chumukun tribe stationed at the northern foot.This tribe was severely injured by the Tang army in the Battle of Yancheng last year. At this time, its vitality was far from recovered. Once the Tang army launched an attack, Chu Mukun was basically unable to fight back. The chief of the tribe, Lan Dulu, had to lead more than 10,000 tents. Surrender to Tang Jun.Su Dingfang tried his best to appease, and then selected more than 1,000 elite cavalry from Chumukun, and incorporated them into the Tang army as the forward. Immediately afterwards, the Tang army continued to march westward, targeting the Tuqishi tribe. Like Chu Mukun, this tribe was also severely damaged by the Tang army last year. At this time, they saw that Chu Mukun had surrendered, and knowing that they were powerless to resist, they hurriedly asked Ashina Helu for help. Ashina Helu realized that if the Tang army's offensive was not blocked, the ten surnamed tribes in Western Turkic were bound to be defeated by the Tang army one by one.He immediately issued an order to assemble an army of 100,000 troops from the tribes of the ten surnames (including the remnants of Chu Mukun), and prepared to line up on the west bank of the Yixuan River (now the Irtysh River in Central Asia) to block the Tang army by virtue of the natural moat. Su Dingfang noticed Ashina Helu's strategic intentions, so he personally led the elite Tang army and Huihe cavalry, a total of more than 10,000 people, quickly crossed the Yexi River and formed a formation on the west bank. Ashina Helu's intentions were completely defeated, and he couldn't help being very angry.But when he led an army of 100,000 to approach the Yixuan River, all the anger in his heart turned into secret joy. Because the strength of the Tang army is not only one-tenth of that of the Turkic army, but also backed by the big river, there is no way out if you want to escape. Ashina Helu suddenly became more confident, and he believed that this battle would definitely wipe out the main force of the Tang army. Facing an enemy force ten times larger than his own, Su Dingfang remained calm and unafraid.He ordered the infantry to line up densely on the southern plain, with the points of their spears facing outwards, while he personally led the elite cavalry to line up on the northern plain behind the infantry formation. Relying on the absolute superiority in numbers, the Western Turkic army launched three consecutive charges against the Tang army's infantry formation. However, in front of Rulin's spears, the Turkic people suffered great casualties, but they were still unable to tear through the Tang army's defense line. At this time, Su Dingfang was riding his horse and standing on the high slope in the north to watch the changes on the battlefield.He knew that although the Turkic army was large in number, it was composed of ten tribes. Among them, the five tribes in the left wing had once betrayed Ashina Helu, and the Nilu tribe in the five tribes in the right wing had always been in conflict with Ashina Helu. Lu Bumu.Therefore, the Turks are powerful on the surface, but they are actually full of internal contradictions. This is the Achilles heel of the Turkic army. When the third wave of the Turkic army's attack was repulsed by the Tang army, Su Dingfang knew that his combat effectiveness had been exhausted, and immediately ordered all the cavalry to follow him to charge. Following Su Dingfang's order, the cavalry of the Tang Army immediately stretched out from the two wings of the infantry formation like two sharp steel knives, and then plunged straight into the enemy formation. At the moment of the decisive battle, the weaknesses of the ten tribes of Western Turks, who were seemingly in harmony with each other, were fully exposed.Under the fierce attack of the Tang army, the Turkic people fought on their own and did not help each other, and the advantage of a large number of people could not be brought into play at all.And as long as the position of one tribe is disrupted, the other tribes will immediately scramble to retreat.In the end, even though Ashina Helu's handsome flag was waving desperately, it still couldn't prevent the 100,000 army from being defeated across the board. The Tang army immediately turned to a full-scale counterattack. Su Dingfang personally led the cavalry to pursue it for 30 miles, beheading and capturing tens of thousands of enemy troops. In this battle, the Tang army won a complete victory.Su Dingfang was fearless in the face of danger, commanded decisively, and once again created a classic example of defeating the crowd with a few. Since then, he has shocked the Western Regions and taken a solid step on the road of a generation of famous generals. On the eve of the battle of the Yixuan River, Xue Rengui, the right leader of the court, Zhonglang, offered Gaozong a strategy to drive apart the Turks. Ashinahoru was defeated, and his wife and children were taken as hostages. From now on, once the Western Expeditionary Army defeats Ashinahoru's tribe, as long as Nishi's wife and children are captured, they should be returned and rewarded. In this way, Niyu will definitely betray Ashina Helu and swear allegiance to Datang to the death." Gaozong adopted Xue Rengui's strategy, and then issued a secret edict to Su Dingfang. Among the Western Turkic people captured in this battle, there were indeed the wives and children of Chief Nishu, and Su Dingfang sent someone to secretly return them the same day.Chief Nishu burst into tears of gratitude, and immediately expressed his willingness to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. On the second day of the battle at the Yixi River, Su Dingfang continued to chase after him, but Ashina Helu believed that his troops were still superior, so he turned back and fought again.But he never imagined that this day he would suffer a worse defeat, and it would become a major turning point in his short khan career from prosperity to decline. When the Tang army fought with the Turkic army, it was difficult to distinguish the outcome at the beginning, but when the fierce battle between the two sides was in full swing, the Nishu tribe suddenly rebelled.Under the effect of Nishu tribe's defection, the other four tribes on the right side also surrendered to the Tang army. Seeing that the five divisions in the right wing had put down their weapons in a short while, the five divisions in the left wing (Chu Mukun, Tuqishi, Shu Nishi, Hu Luju, and Shesheti) no longer wanted to fight, so they fled .In the end, only Chu Mukun's chieftain, Qu Luchu, led hundreds of soldiers, and fled westward in a panic surrounded by Ashina Helu. Immediately after Su Dingfang defeated Ashina Helu, the Tang Army on the southern front led by Ashina Buzhen also quickly approached the garrison of the Fifth Division of the West Turkic Left Wing. After the five departments in the left wing fled back to the station, they were in a state of anxiety all day long, worrying about their future fate.When they were still in shock, they learned that the Tang army on the southern line had arrived at their door, and they had also received a letter of surrender sent by Ashina Buzhen.The five chiefs expected Ashina Helu to be dead, and following him would be a dead end.So on the same day, the five chiefs made the decision to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and then went to the Tang army camp together to surrender to Ashina Buzhen. Later, Ashina Mishe, the commander of another Tang army on the southern route, also used his original influence in Western Turks to successfully conquer the two tribes of Chuyue and Chumi. So far, Ashina Helu has betrayed all relatives and has completely become a loner. In the winter of the second year of Xianqing, Su Dingfang ordered Xiao Siye and Huihe Chief Porun to be the vanguard. He himself and Ren Yaxiang led the main force in the rear, braving the severe winter and continuing to advance westward. . At that time, it was snowing heavily and the wind was howling. The snow on the ground was two feet thick, and it was extremely difficult for the expeditionary army to move forward.So the generals suggested to Su Dingfang one after another: rest in place and wait for the weather to clear before marching. However, their proposal was immediately rejected by Su Dingfang.He told the soldiers: "Ashina Helu must have thought that it is difficult for our army to move forward due to the freezing weather and snow-covered mountains, so he must be confident and relax his vigilance. This is a good time for our army to catch up with him. If they act slowly, they will definitely flee far away, and they will be unable to catch up if they want to catch up. Therefore, it is now time to establish immortality!" The Tang Empire made three westward expeditions to Ashina Helu, but the first two failed. The main reason was that the commander's will, courage and determination were not enough.Compared with the previous two western expeditions, the natural conditions Su Dingfang encountered this time were actually the worst, but he possessed something that others did not have, that is-the belief in victory and the will to be invincible. The army continued westward, marching day and night in the vast snowfield to the royal court of the Western Turks. After an extremely arduous long journey, the North Route Army led by Su Dingfang finally arrived at Shuanghe.Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen on the southern line also arrived at the same time, and the two Tang armies joined forces in victory, and their strength became stronger. Shuanghe is only two hundred miles away from Ashina Helu's royal court.At this time, Ashina Helu was still defenseless, and was leisurely hunting near Jinya Mountain. As expected by Su Dingfang, Ashina Helu decided that it was impossible for Tang Jun to make a long-distance raid in this severe wind and snow weather, so he still believed with full confidence that he definitely had a chance to make a comeback. But Ashina Helu has no chance. When Tang Jun suddenly appeared in front of him like an eagle descending from the sky, Ashina Helu woke up like a dream. However, it was too late. The hastily assembled troops could not withstand the powerful offensive of the Tang army. Ashina Helu's royal court was broken in a blink of an eye, and tens of thousands of Turkic heads were chopped off by the Tang army, which symbolized the Khan's authority. The big drum and the huge banner were also captured by the Tang army. The helpless Ashina Helu had to break through with a few people including his son Xiyun and son-in-law Yan Chuo, and fled to Shiguo (now Tashkent, Uzbekistan). Ashina Helu's defeat and exile meant that the third expedition of the Tang Empire had achieved a complete victory. Su Dingfang knew that Ashina Helu had become a bereaved dog and could not escape from his palm after all, so he was not busy chasing it, but started to appease the various tribes of Western Turks and deal with a series of political, economic and social problems left by the war. question. Su Dingfang knew very well that the same important thing as quelling the rebellion is to calm people's hearts.Only after the peace and stability of Western Turks were quickly restored after the war, could the army of the Tang Empire truly be called the army of the king who hanged the people and punished crimes.It is said in history that after Ashina Helu was defeated and fled, "Dingfang stopped his troops, and all the tribes returned to their residences, passed the road, set up post offices, covered the bones, asked about suffering, painted the battlefield, and revived their careers. Everyone is Shaboluo ( Those who were looted by Ashina Helu will be returned in full, and the ten surnames will be safe and blocked" (Volume 200). It took Su Dingfang a very short time to fully restore the social order of the West Turkic Khanate, and thus won the support and support of various tribes and people in the West Turkic Khanate. After doing all this, Su Dingfang handed over the task of hunting down Ashina Helu to his deputy, Xiao Siye, and returned with glory. Ashina Helu fled to the outside of Suduo City in the northwest of the Shi Kingdom in one breath. He was exhausted, hungry and thirsty, but he dared not enter the city, so he ordered his men to bring jewelry to the city to buy horses and food.City Lord Su Duo heard the news of Ashina Helu's arrival, and immediately ordered people to prepare sumptuous food and wine, and then went out of the city respectfully to greet him. Ashina Helu, who had nowhere to go, couldn't help being very grateful to see the kindness of the city lord Suduo. He immediately lifted his guard and entered the city with the city lord Suduo. But Ashina Helu absolutely did not expect that the moment he stepped into Suduo City, the city gate behind him was closed abruptly, and then a large group of heavily armed soldiers rushed out from all around, and they were surrounded by a group of soldiers. surrounded.And the city lord Su Duo, who was still enthusiastic just now, is standing far away at this moment, watching him with a complacent and contemptuous smile. At that moment, Ashina Helu was completely desperate. From the second year of Yonghui (AD 651) to the second year of Xianqing (AD 657), the six-year career of Khan was like a dream to Ashina Helu at this moment. How brilliant this dream is, how intense his pain is at this moment. As much power as he had had in those six years, he was as depressed as he was right now. Ashina Helu finally lowered his head heavily. At the same time, the sword in his hand hangs down. He once used this sword to control the fate of the entire Western Turkic Khanate, but now, he can't even control his own fate. After City Lord Su Duo captured Ashina Helu, he immediately handed him over to Lord Shi Guo, who then handed him over to Xiao Siye, a general of the Tang army. In the third year of Xianqing (658 A.D.), Ashina Helu was escorted to Chang'an, the capital, and Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi specially held a prisoner offering ceremony.Dressed in military uniform, Su Dingfang personally escorted Ashina Helu into the palace to offer him prisoners.Subsequently, Su Dingfang was promoted to the general of Zuo Xiaowei and named Xing Guogong because of his contribution to pacifying the Western Turks. After the war, the Tang Empire set up the Kunling Protectorate and Mengchi Protectorate on the land of the Western Turks: with Ashina Mishe as the Protector of Kunling, named Khan Xingxi, who ruled the Western Turks The five divisions in the left chamber (Wudulu); with Ashina Buzhen as the guardian of Mengchi, he was named the successor Khan, and commanded the five divisions in the right chamber of the Western Turks (Wudu Shibi).Both Duhufu are under the jurisdiction of Anxi Duhufu.In addition, for the tribal leaders of the Western Turks, the Tang court also awarded official positions below the governor according to the size and status of the tribes. The once powerful Western Turkic Khanate collapsed. Since the Western Turkic Khanate no longer existed, the Central Asian countries that had originally surrendered to the Western Turkic Khanate turned their heads back to the Tang Dynasty.In the fourth year of Xianqing (659 A.D.), the Tang court set up in Shiguo, Miguo, Shiguo, Da'an, Xiao'an, Cao, Bahana, 悒怛, Shule, Zhujuban and other countries in Central Asia. A total of 127 states, counties, and prefectures were included. (These countries are roughly distributed in present-day western Xinjiang, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan.) In the first year of Longshuo (AD 661), sixteen countries in Central Asia, including Tocharo, Heda, Kubin, and Persia, joined the Tang Empire one after another.The Tang Dynasty successively established eight governor’s mansions, seventy-six states, one hundred and ten counties, and one hundred and twenty-six military mansions in these sixteen countries, and put them all under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Governor’s Mansion. scope. So far, the territory of the Tang Empire has extended from the Western Regions to Central Asia, and from Central Asia to the Iranian Plateau in West Asia.Emperor Gaozong inherited the strong national power and pioneering martial spirit of the Zhenguan era, and finally made the territory, national power and prestige of the Tang Empire reach its peak in the middle of the seventh century AD!