At the beginning of the first month of the fifth year of Wude (AD 622), Liu Heita, who created an invincible myth in Hebei, finally reached the pinnacle of his life logically. He claimed to be the King of the Eastern Han Dynasty, set his capital in Mingzhou, changed Yuan Tianzao, took Fan Yuan as the left servant, Dong Kangmai as the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Gao Yaxian as the right leader; at the same time, all the civil and military officials of the old Xia Dynasty were in his new The court officials were reinstated. For the Li Tang Dynasty, the Hebei regime that rose after Dou Jiande obviously had the potential to be better than the blue.Because Liu Heita imitated Dou Jiande in a series of political measures such as judiciary and administration, but he was stronger than Dou Jiande in military affairs, "fighting and fighting bravely" (Volume 190).

The reason why Liu Heitai has been able to get to this point smoothly is actually due to one person. Li Yuan. Because Li Yuan objectively gave him time—precious time to develop and grow. During the half a year when Liu Heitai roamed Hebei, Li Yuan could actually play Li Shimin's trump card at any time, but he just didn't play it for a long time.Because Li Yuan felt that Li Shimin's tail was too high, and he could no longer be considered a pillar of the imperial court!The reason why he was given the title of a so-called Tiance Admiral was to seal off his vanity in one step, so that his desire for power and political ambition would cool down, and he would be a man with his tail between his legs, and honestly treat him as Li Yuan. A good son of Li Jiancheng, a good younger brother of Li Jiancheng, and a good courtier of Li Tang's court!

Therefore, unless it is a last resort, Li Yuan will not allow Li Shimin to put down Liu Heita and make greater contributions with the attitude of giving up and turning the tide.Therefore, Li Yuan naturally pinned his hope of pacifying Liu Heitai on Li Shentong, Luo Yi, and Li Shiji. However, Li Yuan was greatly disappointed in the result. None of these people is Liu Heita's opponent! At the end of December in the fourth year of Wude, seeing that the renewed war between Liu Heitai and Xu Yuanlang had turned into a prairie fire on both sides of the river, Li Yuan had no choice but to use Li Shimin's trump card that was once refrigerated, and remove him from Tanxuan. Please come out from the literary museum for discussing Taoism, reciting poems and composing Fu, and appoint him as the commander-in-chief and Li Yuanji as the deputy commander-in-chief, so that Li Shimin will go out again.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of Wude, Li Shimin led the Eastern Expeditionary Army to Huojia (now Huojia County, Henan).Liu Heikai adopted the strategy of avoiding the enemy's edge, withdrew from the defenders in Xiangzhou (now Anyang City, Henan Province), and defended Mingzhou (now Yongnian County, Hebei Province) with all his strength.On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Shimin regained Xiangzhou, marched into Feixiang (now Feixiang County, Hebei Province), and camped on the south bank of Mingshui (flowing through the south of Mingzhou City), threatening Mingzhou.

At the same time, Luo Yi in Youzhou also led tens of thousands of soldiers to the south, intending to form a north-south attack on Liu Heita.Liu Heitai received the battle report and decided to go north to defeat Luo Yi first, and then go back to fight Li Shimin.He left Fan Yuan 10,000 people and ordered him to defend Mingzhou, and then personally led the army to the north and quickly reached Shahe (now north of Shahe City, Hebei). In order to force Liu Heita to return to the army, Li Shimin decided to put pressure on Mingzhou.He dispatched his general Cheng Mingzhen to lead a small team and sixty war drums across the Mingshui River, beat violently on the embankment two miles west of Mingzhou City, and launched a psychological war against Fan Yuan.For a moment, the whole city of Mingzhou was shaking with the sound of drums shaking the sky. Fan Yuan was terrified, thinking that the main force of the Tang army was about to attack the city, so he hurriedly sent a fast horse to Liu Heita for emergency.Liu Heikai was in a dilemma, and in the end he was still worried about his old nest, so he had to lead a large force back to the army. At the same time, he ordered his younger brother Liu Shishan and general Zhang Junli to lead 10,000 people to continue northward to stop Luo Yi who had reached Gucheng (now Jinzhou City, Hebei).On the 30th day of the first lunar month, the two sides started an encounter in Xuhe. The Eastern Han Army was defeated and lost more than 8,000 men. Liu Shishan and Zhang Junli fled with the remnants of the tribe.On the same day, Li Quhuo, a native of Mingshui County (now Quzhou County, Hebei Province), suddenly launched a riot to occupy the county seat and surrendered to the Tang army.Li Shimin was overjoyed, and immediately ordered Wang Junkuo to lead 1,500 people to garrison Mingshui.

On February 11th, Liu Heita quickly returned to the army, trying to regain Mingshui, but was intercepted by Tang general Qin Shubao, and his wish to regain Mingshui failed.A few days later, Li Shimin divided his troops to bypass Mingzhou and regained Xingzhou (now Xingtai City, Hebei) in the north and Jingzhou (northwest of Jingxing County, Hebei), an important pass in the Taihang Mountains.In the middle and late February, Luo Yi went all the way south, successively conquering Dingzhou, Luanzhou (now Zhao County, Hebei), Lianzhou (now Gaocheng County, Hebei), and Zhaozhou (now Longyao County, Hebei), and the soldiers pointed directly at Mingzhou .

So far, the Tang army has successfully encircled Liu Heitai from the north to the south, compressing him in a tiny place in Mingzhou, making him basically lose the room to maneuver and the ability to maneuver.At this time, Liu Heikai was besieged on all sides: Xingzhou and Zhaozhou in the north had already fallen into the hands of the Tang army, and Luo Yi was coming fiercely. The possibility of Liu Heitai moving to the hinterland of Hebei was lost. To the west was the natural barrier of the Taihang Mountains. To the south is the main force of Li Shimin's Tang army. The only territory not occupied by the Tang army is the northeast of Mingzhou, that is, Beizhou (now Qinghe County, Hebei) and Jizhou (now Jizhou City, Hebei) in the upper reaches of Mingshui.This area is now Liu Heitai's last logistics supply base. If he wants not to be trapped to death by the Tang army, Liu Heitai can only rely on the grain and supplies brought from this line.

But the terrible thing is that now the throat of this lifeline is also strangled by Tang Jun. This throat is Mingshui County, which was lost more than half a month ago. Mingshui is a small county under the jurisdiction of Mingzhou. It is located in the east of Mingzhou City. It was not a strategically important place at first, but for Liu Heita at this moment, it undoubtedly became life-threatening, because it was in the On the only way from Beizhou and Jizhou to Mingzhou, the supplies transported from Beizhou to Mingzhou must pass through this small Mingshui County, whether by land or water.Therefore, in order not to be trapped by the Tang army or caught in the urn, Liu Heita had only two choices: first, get rid of the containment and entanglement of the Tang army's small forward troops, break out from the east, retreat to the front line of Beiji, and wait for an opportunity to fight again; Second, regain control of the supply line, rely on continuous logistics supplies to confront the Tang army, and then look for opportunities to fight Li Shimin.

And the premise of these two choices is exactly the same - regain Mingshui. Obviously, "the enemy's main points are our main points", so for Tang Jun, the current Mingshui City is by no means dispensable.The primary function is of course to strangle the throat of the Eastern Han Army; secondly, because the main force of the Tang Army is stationed on the south bank of the Mingshui River, and Mingshui City is located on the north bank, this city has become the beachhead of the Tang Army, and it was Li Shimin who inserted it under Liu Heita's eyelids. A sharp knife underneath!Occupying this city will help the Tang army harass and restrain Liu Heita's main force with a small force, spy on his movements and facts, prevent him from breaking out and escape, and create favorable conditions for the Tang army's main force to finally wipe out Liu Heita.

Therefore, before the real decisive battle between the two armies comes, the two sides are bound to launch a fierce battle in Mingshui City. Next, we will see that this battle was indeed very fierce.Li Shimin's fierce general Luo Shixin was captured and killed in this battle. Since late February, Liu Heita launched a continuous and violent attack on Mingshui City. Li Shimin led his army across the river for reinforcements three times, but was repelled by the Eastern Han Army.Seeing that Wang Junkuo, who was struggling to defend to the death, was unable to support him, Li Shimin held a meeting to discuss countermeasures, and the brave general Luo Shixin volunteered and took 200 soldiers to support him.As a result, in the melee, Wang Junkuo broke out, but Luo Shixin rushed into the encirclement of the Eastern Han Army and continued to fight against the city.Liu Heitai attacked day and night, and the Tang army tried to reinforce many times, but was blocked by heavy snowfall for several days. After Luo Shixin led 200 people to stand alone for eight days, the city was finally broken and captured.Liu Heitai felt his bravery and persuaded him to surrender. Luo Shi vowed not to obey, and was beheaded by Liu Heitai. He was only 20 years old when he died.

Although Liu Heita once regained Mingshui, at the end of February, Li Shimin still ordered Li Shiji to occupy it again.At the beginning of March, Luo Yi led his army to the south bank of Mingshui and joined forces with Li Shimin.Liu Heikai continued to challenge, and Li Shimin once again adopted his usual strategy. He did not get out of the wall, but sent troops to block the supply line of the Eastern Han Army.On March 13, grain, grass and supplies from Jizhou, Beizhou, Cangzhou (now southwest of Yanshan County, Hebei), and Yingzhou (now Hejian City, Hebei) were transported to Mingzhou by land and water. Li Shimin immediately ordered Cheng Mingzhen led his troops to intercept and burned all the grain ships and grain trucks of the Eastern Han Army. From the beginning of February to the end of March, the Tang army and the Handong army held a stalemate on both sides of the Mingshui River for nearly 60 days. Liu Heitai gradually fell into a desperate situation. On March 23, in order to get out of the predicament, Liu Heitai dispatched a large army to attack Li Shiji with all his strength. Li Shimin personally led a force across the river to attack Liu Heitai's back. Unexpectedly, Liu Heitai returned to the army and surrounded Li Shimin heavily. Li Shimin once again experienced another terrible moment of life and death in his military career. At the critical moment, Yuchi Jingde led his troops to break into the tight encirclement and rescued Li Shimin with all his strength. In the next few days, Li Shimin predicted that the grain and grass in Mingzhou City would be exhausted, and Liu Heita would be forced to launch a decisive battle.In order to attract Liu Heitai to the south bank for a decisive battle and wipe out Liu Heitai's vital force in one fell swoop, Li Shimin ordered his generals to block the river and build a dam in the upper reaches of the Mingshui River, and gave such an order: "Wait for me to fight the bandits, and I will kill them! "(Volume 190) The so-called "decision" means breaking the embankment to release the flood! The flood is ruthless, and when the two armies are fighting, does it mean that the soldiers of the Tang army will die together with the enemy? Let's put that question aside for a moment and take a look at how the battle went. On March 26, the Battle of Mingshui, which determined Liu Heita's fate, began. Liu Heikai led 20,000 troops on foot and crossed Mingshui to the south, pressing the Tang army's camp to line up.Li Shimin personally led the elite cavalry to attack Liu Heita's cavalry first, smashed them, and rushed into the position of the Eastern Han Army with the victory, sweeping his infantry.Liu Heita knew that if he lost this battle, it would be very difficult for him to stand up again, so he led the crowd to fight to the death.And these brave and brave Hebei soldiers under his command were all determined to fight to the death, so they fought extremely tenaciously.The two armies fought hard from noon to dusk, rushing back and forth, and it was hard to tell the outcome.Although Tang Jun had a slight upper hand, he still failed to gain a decisive advantage. It was during this fierce battle that Li Shimin's steed, the curly-haired black-mouthed horse Quan Maoyu, was shot with nine arrows, six in the chest and three in the back, and finally fell on the battlefield. The performance can be described as heroic! (Fist hair is also one of the famous six steeds of Zhaoling; Li Shimin's inscription of praise for him is: "The moon is pressed against the bridle, and the sky is rampant. The lone arrow carries the gun, and the atmosphere is clear.") As dusk fell, the two sides were still fighting fiercely.General Wang Xiaohu of the Eastern Han Army found that the Eastern Han Army was gradually showing signs of decline, so he quickly said to Liu Heitai: "It seems that we can't stand it anymore, let's get out as soon as possible." The situation on the battlefield was also not optimistic. In desperation, he had no choice but to withdraw from the battle secretly with a few generals such as Wang Xiaohu. Liu Heitai just smeared the soles of his feet with oil and walked away, but most of the soldiers under his command didn't notice it at all, and they were still fighting desperately there.In the end, the Eastern Han Army could no longer hold on, so they had to flee to the north bank of Mingshui. Just when they all entered the ditch, a huge wave crashed down the upper reaches of the Mingshui River. When the exhausted soldiers of the Eastern Han Army opened their blood-red eyes and saw the flood that was more than one foot high, as if thousands of horses were galloping, they almost didn't even have time to feel the fear and despair. engulf. The result of this battle was: the Eastern Han Army was "beheaded more than ten thousand ranks and drowned thousands of people", and almost the entire army was wiped out. Liu Heitai and Fan Yuan and others fled to East Turkic with more than two hundred horses. Obviously, although Liu Heitai escaped to death, his vitality was lost, and the Tang army won a complete victory. It can be said that Li Shimin's strategic goal was basically achieved. However, it was Li Shimin's order to break the embankment and discharge the flood that made future generations criticize. People often scold Li Shimin for being cruel and ruthless based on this.For example, Mr. Bo Yang was very disdainful about this, so he made some righteous comments, and his views were widely circulated, which seemed to represent the views of quite a few people.In order to identify this historical truth, let us first look at Mr. Bo Yang's original words: "In general warfare, water attack is used when the enemy is 'half crossing', or marching half crossing, or retreating half crossing, so that we can It exerts an annihilating effect. The battle of Mingshui was not the case. Li Shimin's order did not mention the enemy's "half crossing", but clearly stated: "When I fight the rebels, you will destroy the embankment!" When the two armies fought Dikes, floods have no eyes, how can they distinguish between the enemy and us! Obviously, in this battle, Li Shimin adopted the tactic of killing both the enemy and ourselves. Li Shimin and the senior generals are not in danger, because they have already left the battlefield... Li Shimin is determined to sacrifice Those government soldiers loyal to him were used to eliminate Liu Heitai, a suddenly rising enemy. Otherwise, the embankment would not have burst when the two armies fought together. This historically unknown flooding of the three armies, I am afraid It is a brutal mass murder.” (Bo Yang vernacular version) Is this really the case? it's not true. Although we must first affirm Mr. Bo Yang's humanitarian spirit and humanistic stance, we still have to point out that Mr. Bo Yang's comments are basically aimless, and even to put it bluntly - pure nonsense. The only historical material that Mr. Bo Yang believed was the record in "Waiting for me to fight the bandits, I will decide them", so he repeatedly emphasized that the correct way to use this kind of water attack tactics should be when the enemy is "half crossing". He said "fighting with thieves" without mentioning "Bandu", so of course the conclusion is that Li Shimin committed "collective murder".However, we have to say that Mr. Bo Yang's assertion based on only one historical data is too manly (manhan) and hasty! In the order issued by Li Shimin, did "Bandu" be mentioned? First of all, let's look at "Old Book of Tang·Liu Heita Biography", which says in black and white: "On the day I attack the thief, I wait for the thief to cross the weir for half a degree (crossing)." Such a clear "half degree (crossing)" two Words, why did Mr. Bo Yang turn a blind eye?In addition, the expression in "New Book of Tang·Liu Heita Biography" is more accurate: "The thief must be saved, and it must be resolved urgently!" The key point of this order is the precise control of the timing of the dike breaking, that is, the dike must wait until the enemy flees and crosses the river ditch before breaking the dike to release the flood. Embankment releases water. To further clarify the true meaning of Li Shimin's order, it is necessary to understand the strategic goal Li Shimin wants to achieve.Regarding this point, the "Old Book of Tang Taizong Benji" records very clearly that the purpose of blocking the river and building dams is to "make the weir Mingshui flow up and make the Heimen cross", that is, to deliberately lower the water level of the Mingshui. , To lure Liu Heitai to cross the river to the south bank to fight the Tang army, and then wipe out Liu Heitai's vital forces to the greatest extent. What Li Shimin is best at is to set up such a stage for the opponent, let the enemy dance with death in the time and space he arranged, and finally die in the way and rhythm he gave.This unique ability was fully demonstrated no matter when he pacified Xue Renguo and Song Jingang, or when he fought against Dou Jiande in the Battle of Hulao.And this Battle of Mingshui, according to the two "Tang Books", the result also did not meet Li Shimin's strategic expectations, and there was no situation out of control, and it did not lead to the consequences of drowning the soldiers of the Tang army, so the so-called "the enemy and us will die together" There is no way to talk about it.According to the "Old Tang Book": "Hei Dingguo rode 20,000 troops across the Mingshui and fought against the government and army. The thieves were defeated, and the water was so large that the Hei Ding people could not cross." "New Tang Book" The records are also similar to it: "Hei Daguo led the pace and rode 20,000 Jueshui formations, and fought against the king's division. The crowd was defeated, the water was violent, and the thieves were not allowed to return." It can be seen that it was at this time that the battle was coming to an end. When the Eastern Han Army fled to the north bank, the flood came. As a result, Liu Heita's troops were unable to cross the flood, and could only fall into the desperate situation of being killed and drowned.And all of this is exactly in line with the strategic goal that Li Shimin wants to achieve. After hearing the news of Liu Heikai's escape to the Turks, the tribes in the Shandong (east of Taihang Mountain) area lost all fighting spirit and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty one after another. Only the two restless wildfires, Gao Kaidao and Xu Yuanlang, were burning fiercely. At the beginning of April of this year, Gao Kaidao captured Yizhou (now Yixian County, Hebei Province) and beheaded the governor Murong Xiaoqian.A few days later, Xu Yuanlang also annexed the tribe of Junyi (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province), the leader of the rebel Liu Shiche, trapped and killed him, and expanded his sphere of influence to Qiaozhou (now Bozhou City, Anhui Province) and Qizhou (now Qizhou City, Henan Province) County) area. Just as Li Shimin was about to go south to attack Xu Yuanlang, Li Yuan suddenly called Li Shimin back to Chang'an, and on April 9th ​​he went to Changle Ban to greet Li Shimin in person. Liu Heitai finally lost, so Li Yuan couldn't wait to take back this embarrassing trump card.But when Li Shimin faced Chen Xu Yuanlang's still rampant rebellion to him, Li Yuan's smile immediately froze on his face. He had to send Li Shimin to Liyang to conquer Xu Yuanlang again.A few days later, Li Yuan followed up with another edict, ordering Li Shentong to attack Xu Yuanlang together. In fact, he hoped that he could replace Li Shimin and take over the campaign. Li Shimin knew better than anyone else the suspicion of his father Li Yuan.At the beginning of July, after Li Shimin conquered more than ten cities in Henan and pacified some of Xu Yuanlang's forces, he took the initiative to return to the court, and entrusted Li Shentong, Li Yuanji, and Li Shiji with the task of completely eliminating Xu Yuanlang. At about the same time as Li Shimin's class division, Liu Heikai made a comeback with the help of Turkic troops and went south to encircle Dingzhou. His former troops Dong Kangmai and Cao Zhan immediately raised troops in Xianyu (the seat of Dingzhou's state capital) to respond.On July 15th, Li Yuan appointed Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, who was only 19 years old, as the chief of the Hebei Road Army, and put him in charge of conquering Liu Heita. Li Yuan's intention is obvious, which is to try his best to cultivate the rising stars of the clan, give them the opportunity to practice on the battlefield, and at the same time form a certain check and balance on Li Shimin, who has made great achievements in the world. However, Li Yuan never expected that Li Daoxuan would be killed by Liu Heita in a blink of an eye as soon as he took back Li Shimin's trump card, causing the Tang army in Hebei to suffer another serious setback.Because of this, Liu Heikai revived, and restored the entire Xia Dynasty again within ten months.