Chapter 35 Baekje: A War of Gains and Losses

In the spring of the fifth year of Xianqing (AD 660), after the Tang Empire had just pacified the Western Turks, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi received a memorial from Silla. To be precise, this is a distress letter—an urgent distress letter sent by King Jin Chunqiu of Silla. He said in the letter that Baekje once again colluded with Goryeo and repeatedly invaded, and has already occupied a large area of ​​Silla. If the Tang Dynasty does not send troops, Silla will be completely finished! After reading the letter, a long-suppressed anger finally rose in Gaozong Lizhi's heart. When Emperor Taizong failed to conquer Goryeo himself, he died shortly after his ambition. This incident has always been a shadow in Li Zhi's heart.After ascending the throne, Li Zhi secretly made up his mind that one day he would send troops to subdue the rebellious Goryeo and Baekje, fulfill the unfulfilled wish of the three emperors of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (Sui Wendi, Sui Yangdi, Tang Taizong) and comfort his father Li Shimin in the spirit of heaven. !

The reason why Gaozong did not take action is because since he came to the throne, the power struggle at the top of the empire has not stopped for a day, and he had to focus on a series of political struggles; Ashina Helu, the empire launched a total of three expeditions on the western front, which lasted for six years and paid a very high cost of war, so Gaozong has been unable to free up his hands to deal with the affairs of the Korean peninsula. Although the Tang Empire has not launched a large-scale war on the Korean Peninsula over the years, it has never stopped attacking and harassing Korea.

Since the 19th year of Zhenguan (645 AD) when he personally conquered Goryeo and returned home, Emperor Taizong began to expand the navy on a large scale and manufacture warships on a large scale.Soon, the Tang Empire possessed a powerful naval force.At the same time, Taizong also formulated a "limited war" strategy, not for the purpose of annihilating the enemy's army and conquering the city, but frequently dispatching troops, focusing on attacking and destroying Goryeo's farming areas, so as to hit Goryeo's economy and achieve the final extinction. Goryeo paved the way.

During the ten years from the 21st year of Zhenguan (AD 647) to the fifth year of Xianqing (AD 660), under the guidance of the above-mentioned strategy, the Tang Empire repeatedly sent troops from both sea and land lines, and continued to launch raids on Goryeo. .Famous generals of the empire, such as Li Ji, Xue Wanche, Cheng Mingzhen, Su Dingfang, Qibi Heli, Xue Rengui, etc., all went to Korea to fight successively, and dealt heavy blows to Korea. However, Goryeo has always looked like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water.In the sixth year of Yonghui (AD 655), Koryo once again joined forces with the Baekje and Mohe tribes to invade Silla again. In that invasion, a total of 33 cities in Silla were occupied.

Gao Li's attitude is obvious - if you hit me, I will hit your little brother!Since even your wise and powerful Emperor Taizong can't kill me, what can you, weak and incompetent Li Zhi, do to me? At that time, the Tang Empire was using troops against the Western Turks. In order to avoid fighting on two fronts, Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhi had no choice but to forbear for the time being, and only sent Cheng Mingzhen and Su Dingfang to launch a small-scale attack on Koryo from land. After a small victory, they withdrew to the country. Obviously, it is not a full-scale war with Korea, but only a necessary strategic deterrence.

Perhaps Goryeo regarded Tang Gaozong's forbearance as cowardice, so this time he joined forces with Baekje to attack Silla again this time, in order to challenge the Tang Empire. If God wants to destroy people, he must first make them crazy! At this moment, in the eyes of Gaozong Lizhi, Goryeo and Baekje are undoubtedly such self-defeating lunatics. On March 10th in the fifth year of Xianqing, Emperor Gaozong appointed Su Dingfang as the general manager of the Shenqiu Road Marching, and with General Liu Boying of Zuo Xiaowei as his deputy, he led a total of 100,000 troops on land and water, starting by sea, and marching eastward to Baekje; King Jin Chunqiu of Luo was the general manager of the Yiyi Road March, responsible for commanding the Silla army, and coordinating with Su Dingfang's expeditionary force to attack Baekje.

Gaozong's strategy is to destroy Baekje's minion first, and then concentrate on cleaning up Goryeo. Su Dingfang's Eastern Expeditionary Army started from Chengshan Port on the Shandong Peninsula, crossed the Yellow Sea, and arrived at the mouth of the Xiongjin River at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula in August of the same year. The Baekje army is already here. The Tang army landed on the beach at the mouth of the Woongjin River. The navy attacked the Baekje defenders from the front, and the army quickly detoured to the back of the Baekje defense line to attack after the forced landing.Under the front and back attacks of the Tang army, the defense line of the Baekje army collapsed quickly, thousands of people were beheaded by the Tang army, and the rest were forced to retreat.

After occupying the mouth of the Xiongjin River, the Tang army advanced by land and water, and approached the capital of Baekje.The Baekje army poured out of the country and set up a battle 20 miles outside the capital, preparing to fight to the death with the Tang army. The Baekje army, like the Goryeo army, was better at defending the city than fighting in the field. At this time, they tried their best to start a decisive battle with the Tang army. It was undoubtedly that they stretched their necks under Su Dingfang's knife. There was no suspense in this battle. The Tang army easily defeated the Baekje army, beheaded more than 10,000 people, and immediately approached the city, besieging the capital of Baekje.

King Fuyu Yici of Baekje knew that the city would not be safe. Before the Tang army besieged the city, he fled with his prince Fuyulong and others until he reached the northern border of Baekje, leaving only his second son Fuyu Tai to guard the capital. Fu Yutai was very upset when he saw his father and elder brother fleeing for their own lives, but they left this mess to him.He predicted that sooner or later the capital would fall into the hands of the Tang army, and finally he would simply establish himself as the king of Baekje. In Fu Yutai's view, since it is a death anyway, let's get addicted before dying!What's more, the king's appeal is much greater than that of the prince. As a king, he leads the crowd to stand firm. Perhaps the soldiers are brave because of this, and Baekje may still have a chance.

Fu Yutai declared himself king, and one person immediately despaired. He is Fuyu Wensi, the son of Prince Fuyulong.He thought, grandpa and dad, the crown prince, are still alive, and uncle will support himself. Even if the Tang army can be repelled by then, will grandpa and dad come back?Even if he could come back, he would probably be killed by his uncle. The more Fuyu Wensi thought about it, the more frightened he became, and finally he led his men over the wall and surrendered to the Tang army. Fuyu Wensi's surrender was like knocking down a domino, and the people in the city followed suit, rushing out of the city to surrender.Fu Yutai was furious, but no matter what he did, he couldn't stop the crowd of people who surrendered.

Taking advantage of the turmoil in Baekje, Su Dingfang ordered his soldiers to climb up the city wall quietly, and planted the flag of the Tang army on the head of the capital of Baekje. Looking at the flag of the Tang army fluttering high, Fu Yutai was dumbfounded. He knew that people's hearts had been lost and the general situation was gone, so it was useless to hold back any longer.Afterwards, just a few days after the king's addiction, Fu Yutai opened the city gate in despair and surrendered to Su Dingfang. In this way, Tang Jun took the capital of Baekje without a single soldier. The fall of the capital of Baekje once again triggered a domino effect, and the leaders of the cities without a leader surrendered one after another.Later, the desperate old king Yici and Prince Long also came back obediently and surrendered to the Tang army. In less than a month, the five parts of Baekje, thirty-seven counties, two hundred cities, and a population of 760,000 households all surrendered. At this point, Baekje, which had been established for 678 years, declared its demise. Veteran Su Dingfang easily pacified Baekje, adding another glorious page to his military career. Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was overjoyed, and immediately issued an edict to set up five governors' mansions in Baekje, including Xiongjin, and the original officials of Baekje served as the governors and governors of various places. The demise of Baekje was too fast, so fast that it was unbelievable. Will a country that has been established for more than 600 years and has a population of nearly 4 million surrender so easily? the answer is negative. Faced with the huge and easy victory, the generals and soldiers of the Tang army were inevitably a little bit smug, so the behavior of military looting occurred from time to time, which immediately aroused the resistance of the soldiers and civilians of Baekje.While the Tang army was still immersed in the joy of victory, the army and civilians of Baekje had quietly launched a war of restoration of the country. The person who took the lead in raising the anti-banner was Baekje brave general Black Tooth Changzhi. Heizhi Changzhi was from the west of Baekje, and history said that he was "more than seven feet long, brave and resourceful".His official position in Baekje is Tasur, which is equivalent to the governor of China.When the whole country of Baekje surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Heizhi Changzhi also surrendered to the Tang army.But not long after, the black-toothed Changzhi discovered that the Tang army was looting, and many young and middle-aged Baekjes who tried to resist were slaughtered by the Tang army.Hei Chi Chang Zhi was shocked and angry, and then fled back to the headquarters with a dozen of his confidantes, and gathered the exiled troops to occupy Ren Cunshan, and soon built a strong fortress that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, as a base to resist the Tang army. After Heizhi Changzhi raised the banner of rebellion, there were immediately crowds of responders. In just ten days, more than 30,000 people defected to his command.After Su Dingfang heard the news of the rebellion, he quickly led his army to suppress it. Heizhi Changzhi personally led the death squads to meet them, defeating the Tang army's attacks several times. After the rebels won, their morale was greatly boosted, and Hei Chi Chang Zhi then led the army to launch a counterattack.Since the county guards and soldiers in all parts of Baekje are all officers and soldiers of the original Baekje army, Hei Chichang is invincible wherever he goes.In a short period of time, Heizhi Changzhi regained nearly two hundred cities in a row. In the face of the surging wave of Baekje's rejuvenation, Su Dingfang was helpless.He sent troops many times to try to eliminate Hei Chi Chang Zhi, but he was defeated one by one.In the end, Su Dingfang had no choice but to give up, leaving Zhonglang General Liu Renyuan to guard the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion (formerly the capital of Baekje), and then escorted the old Baekje king Fuyu Yici and a group of senior officials back home. After Su Dingfang led the main force of the Tang army back home, the rebellion in Baekje suddenly intensified. In addition to the fierce general Hei Chi Chang, Baekje monk Dao Chen, general Fu Xin and others also gathered in Zhouliu City to riot.Daochen claimed to be the leading general, Fuxin called himself General Shuangcen, and they gathered disciples everywhere, and their power grew rapidly.At the same time, they brought back the Baekje prince Fu Yufeng from Japan and made him the new king of Baekje. So far, Su Dingfang's brilliant achievements in Baekje have basically been in vain. The entire Baekje is nominally the five capitals of the Tang Dynasty, but in fact only one city of Xiongjin is in the hands of the Tang army. Daochen and Fuxin then led a large army to attack Xiongjin. Liu Renyuan, who was weak and weak, could only do his best to defend the isolated city. Woongjin City is at stake. In a critical moment, Gaozong Lizhi urgently appointed a general and ordered him to immediately lead another Tang army remaining in Baekje to rescue Xiongjin. This person is Liu Rengui. In the year when he was pushed to the forefront by the hand of fate, Liu Rengui, like Su Dingfang, was already in his sixties.But there is one thing that Liu Rengui is quite different from Su Dingfang, that is - Su Dingfang started galloping on the battlefield when he was a teenager, but Liu Rengui has never been on the battlefield in his life, let alone leading troops to fight! Can Gaozong use such a person to restore the extremely critical situation in Baekje? Even Su Dingfang, a famous general who has experienced many battles, had to retreat. How could Liu Rengui, who had never fought before, turn things around? People are full of doubts about this.But what is unbelievable is that Liu Rengui, an old man in his sixties who has never fought a war, not only completely reversed the crisis of Baekje in the end, but also became a generation of famous generals without paying attention. No one would have expected that Su Dingfang's gains and losses on the Baekje battlefield, and his failure to achieve success, turned out to be Liu Rengui's legendary life in the end. In the history of war during Gaozong's period, there is a particularly prominent phenomenon, that is, there are so many veterans.Some of these people are heroes and veterans who made great achievements in their youth, such as Li Shiji and Cheng Zhijie; He has grown into an outstanding military strategist and statesman, such as Pei Xingjian; then there are people like Liu Rengui, who have never been on the battlefield all his life, but become a generation of famous generals inadvertently when they grow old. So, how did Liu Rengui turn the tide and become a famous general on the Baekje battlefield where the enemy was outnumbered and the situation was extremely severe?