Chapter 2 Liu Heitai offends Datang again

At the beginning of August in the fifth year of Wude (AD 622), when Liu Heita, the God of Vengeance, went south again with the help of the Turkic people, Jieli Khan of East Turkic also led hundreds of thousands of cavalry to invade the border of the Tang Dynasty. Jieli Khan, named Ashina Dubi, was the third son of Qimin Khan, the younger brother of Shibi Khan and Chuluo Khan. When the Turks reached their heyday, they had millions of powerful soldiers, so they were extremely arrogant and always wanted to invade the Central Plains.In the early years of Wude, Li Yuan had no choice but to adopt a strategy of appeasement due to the uncertainty of the world and frequent civil wars. He always focused on defense and was unwilling to start a full-scale war with the Turks.

Ever since Li Yuan entered Chang'an and created the Great Tang Dynasty, the wars between the Eastern Turks and the Li Tang Dynasty have always been intermittent. Although the scale is not very large, it has never completely stopped.Although the Turkic people provided assistance to Li Yuan in the early days of his army, but after Li Yuan ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and his power gradually grew, the Turkic people turned to support other separatist forces, intending to check and balance the Li-Tang Dynasty.Over the past few years, Eastern Turks have spared no effort to support Xue Ju, Li Gui, Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, etc. The purpose is to let them and Li Yuan restrain each other so as to reap the benefits of fishing.

However, what the Turkic people did not expect was that Li Tang's rise was too fast. In just a few years, he had the tendency to dominate the world, while those separatist heroes who were originally evenly matched with him were defeated and wiped out one by one.In the fifth year of Wude, the only bargaining chips in the hands of the Turks were Liang Shidu, Liu Heita, Gao Kaidao, and Liu Wuzhou's general Yuan Junzhang.These few cats and dogs obviously can't pose a threat to Li Yuan. This one-sided situation is the last thing the Turks want to see.The rise of a unified and powerful Central Plains dynasty will do nothing but harm to the Turks.

Therefore, this time Jieli Khan led the army to the south in person, just to frustrate Li Tang's spirit, let Li Tang feel the powerful threat of the Turks in the military, and be afraid of the Turks; Just like what they did in one trip to the south, plundering gold, silver and treasures was also the theme of their southward invasion. On August 10th of this year, Jieli Khan invaded from Yanmen, and then divided his troops into two groups. He personally led 150,000 troops to attack Bingzhou, the birthplace of Li Tang, and the other to attack Yuanzhou (now Guyuan County, Ningxia). The Turkic soldiers were overwhelming and menacing, and Li Yuan did not dare to take it lightly.On August 11th, Li Yuan ordered the Tang army to divide into four groups. Prince Li Jiancheng led the way out of Binzhou (now Binxian County, Shaanxi) to face the Turkic West Route Army; Qin King Li Shimin led the way out of Taizhou (now Hejin County, Shanxi). Facing the main force of the Turkic Eastern Route Army; Li Zihe (Guo Zihe), the general manager of Yunzhou, was sent to Yunzhong (now Helinger County, Inner Mongolia) to attack Xieli's army from the flank; North of today's Jingbian County, Shaanxi) cut off the back of the Turkic West Route Army.

Although careful deployment was made, Li Yuan still did not want to start a full-scale war with the Turks.He immediately held a court meeting and asked all the officials about the strategy of war and peace.Taichangqing Zheng Yuanxuan, who had been to the Eastern Turks many times, said: "The war will deepen the grievances with the Turks. In my opinion, it is more beneficial to reconcile." If you have the heart to despise China, if you make peace without fighting, you are showing weakness to the enemy, and the Turks will surely make a comeback in the future. I believe that we should fight back bravely, win a few battles first, and then make peace, so that we can show our Great Tang's grace!"

Li Yuan finally adopted Feng Deyi's opinion. On August 20th, the main force of the Turkic East Road arrived at the east bank of Fenshui. The general manager of Tang Bingzhou and Li Shenfu, the king of Xiangyi, led his troops to fight against the Turkic army and won the first battle.Later, Xiao Wei, the governor of Fenzhou (now Fenyang City, Shanxi Province), also led the defenders of Fenzhou to fight, smashing the vanguard of the Turks and beheading more than 5,000 ranks. On the 29th, the Turkic West Route Army captured Dazhen Pass (now southeast of Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County, Gansu).

Although the Eastern Route Army led by Jieli Khan suffered a slight setback, its strength was still very strong, so it advanced all the way in depth.The scouts of the Tang army in Hedong quickly sent back the battle report to the court, saying that the Turkic army had penetrated into Jiexiu and Jinzhou (now Linfen City, Shanxi). Within hundreds of miles, there were Turkic cavalry all over the mountains and plains. Seeing that a big war was inevitable, at this moment, Zheng Yuanxuan, the peace envoy sent by Li Yuan, came to Jieli Khan's camp. When Zheng Yuanxuan entered the Khan's big tent, he immediately put on a tough stance and asked Xieli why he broke the covenant and entered the army brazenly.Jieli was at a loss for words for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Jieli Khan is quite familiar with Zheng Yuanxuan, a master of diplomatic mediation.Zheng Yuanxuan had been sent to Turkic four times before, and each time he was on the tip of their Turkic swordsman, but in the end he always saved the day.The last time he was sent as an envoy to Turkic was in the third year of Wude. At that time, Li Tang had just wiped out Liu Wuzhou. Liang Shi felt his lips die and his teeth turned cold, and he quickly lobbied Chuluo Khan to send troops to attack Li Tang.Chuluo Khan and Liang Shidu immediately formulated a plan to invade the Central Plains, but before it could be implemented, Chuluo Khan fell ill and died.At this time, Zheng Yuanxuan was forcibly detained on behalf of Li Tanglai to negotiate peace with the Turks.It was not until the situation eased and the two countries exchanged detained envoys that Zheng Yuanzhen was able to return home safely.But during Zheng Yuanxuan's detention, Jieli Khan remembered very clearly that this tough guy never showed any fear, eating and sleeping when he needed to, just like living in his own home.Xieli Khan really admired such courage.

Now that this "old friend" came again, Jieli suddenly felt a little overwhelmed, and couldn't think of any high-sounding reason for the invasion in a hurry. Just when Jieli Khan was embarrassed, Zheng Yuanxuan's face suddenly eased, and he changed a tone of discussion and said: "Tang and Turks have different customs. Even if Turks get the land of Tang, they can't live for a long time. Now the Turks plunder the land. , all fell into the hands of soldiers, as a khan, have you ever reaped any benefits? I think it is better to withdraw the troops and rebuild with the Tang Dynasty. The gold and silk can enter Khan’s personal treasury again, isn’t this killing two birds with one stone? Why do you want to abandon the brotherhood between allies and create endless hatred for future generations?”

After hearing these words, a smile appeared on Jieli Khan's face. Because he heard the word "gold and silk". To be honest, although Jieli Khan’s southward invasion wanted to frustrate Li Tang’s spirit, the main purpose was to make some real money. As for Li Tang’s land, the Turkic people really didn’t have much interest, just like Zheng Yuanxuan said Yes, it's useless to snatch it, and it's more laborious and costly than the gain.What's more, in this personal expedition, Jieli Khan also experienced the combat effectiveness of the Tang army, and the Turks may not be able to take advantage of the real fight.What's more, brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin are both on the battlefield this time, and they are all Li Tang's most elite troops, especially Li Shimin, who can wipe out the heroes in just a few years, and his military ability must not be underestimated. In a fight, Jieli Khan didn't have much chance of winning.Now that Li Tang offered to give gold and silk as a gift, Jieli happened to go down the donkey, and immediately reached a repair agreement with Zheng Yuanxuan, and then withdrew his troops to the north with a large amount of gold and silk bribed by Li Tang.

Through this southern invasion, Jieli Khan believed that he still had a deterrent effect on Li Tang militarily, which made him a little complacent.He felt that even if Li Tang finally ruled the world, it would not change the fact that they were afraid of the Turks.As long as he sent troops to visit Li Tang's ground every now and then, I believe he would be able to return with a full reward every time. Jieli Khan is full of confidence in this. However, Xieli at this time would never have imagined that in just four years, Li Tang's regime would suddenly change hands, and after Li Shimin came to power, the Turks' strong position over Li Tang immediately plummeted, and eventually even disappeared. What made him even more unimaginable was that four years later, Li Jinghui, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, defeated him in a single battle. Death, the guest died in a foreign land. In the late autumn of the fifth year of Wude, the Tang army stationed in Hebei once again felt an inexplicable fear. Because Liu Heita, the god of vengeance, has returned. He conquered Yingzhou in one fell swoop at the end of September and beheaded Ma Kuangwu, the governor of the Tang Dynasty.Liu Heita's army recovered, and Ma Junde, the leader of the rebels guarding Yanzhou (now Dingbian, Shaanxi), immediately donated the state city and joined Liu Heita.On the fifth day of October, Liu Shishan, Liu Heita's younger brother, and Xu Shanhu, the governor of Tangbei Prefecture, engaged in an encounter in Qi County (now Xiajin County, Shandong Province). The Tang army was defeated and Xu Shanhu's entire army was wiped out.On the sixth day of the lunar new year, Liu Hui, the governor of Tang Guanzhou (now west of Botou City, Hebei Province), donated the state city and surrendered to Liu Heitai. On October 17th, Li Daoxuan, King of Huaiyang, who had just been appointed by Li Yuan as the general manager of the Hebei Province, fought against Liu Heita in Xiabo (now Xiabo Town, southeast of Shenzhou City, Hebei). As a result, the Tang army was defeated and Li Daoxuan was beheaded by Liu Heita. . At that time, Li Daoxuan had 30,000 soldiers and had an advantage in terms of military strength, but why was he defeated and killed in the end? The superficial reason is that he is too young and lacks military experience, and his opponent Liu Heitai is too tough, but the most fundamental reason is not here, but the emperor Li Yuan. There is nothing wrong with Li Yuan letting the young Li Daoxuan serve as the commander-in-chief to practice.In addition, Li Yuan also let veteran Shi Wanbao serve as Li Daoxuan's deputy, in fact, as his coach, which seems to be quite thoughtful. But Li Yuan's mistake was precisely in this place. First of all, there is a problem with the coach candidate he delineated for Li Daoxuan, because Shi Wanbao has always been at odds with Li Daoxuan, and it is absolutely impossible to work together with him, let alone impart any experience to him.In addition, Li Yuan issued another edict to Shi Wanbao, saying: "Prince Huaiyang is still young, and you are fully responsible for military operations." In this way, how could Shi Wanbao put Li Daoxuan in his eyes? The two mistakes Li Yuan made inadvertently led to Li Daoxuan's tragedy. As soon as the battle started, Li Daoxuan, who was greedy for merit, decided to take the lead in the assault, and ordered Shi Wanbao to lead the army to follow up.But when he led the light cavalry into the Eastern Han Army's position, Shi Wanbao stood still.Seeing that King Huaiyang was in a critical situation, Shi Wanbao was very disturbed, but Shi Wanbao actually said in a tone of gloating: "I received an edict from the emperor, saying that King Huaiyang is just a baby, and the old man is in charge of the military affairs. Now he is reckless. If you advance rashly, if you attack together with him, you will surely die together. How about using Huaiyang King as a bait, and when he is defeated, the bandits will rush to attack, and we will be ready to defeat them." So the tens of thousands of troops just watched Li Daoxuan and his few light cavalry being slowly eaten by the enemy, and the soldiers were all chilled.So when Liu Heitai's main force attacked later, the Tang army had already lost all fighting spirit. No matter how Shi Wanbao shouted, he couldn't stop the army from fleeing, and the battle of Xiabo failed. After hearing the news of the death of Li Daoxuan, who was only 19 years old, Li Shimin felt deeply sorry, and said to the people around him: "Daoxuan followed me many times to fight in the north and south. Seeing that I often went deep into the enemy's line, I was envious and wanted to follow suit. That's why!" After speaking, tears dripped down his cheeks. The defeat and death of Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Tang army in Hebei. At the end of October of this year, Li Yuan, the governor of Tang Mingzhou and the king of Lujiang, abandoned the city and fled in endless panic. Shandong (east of Taihang Mountain) was shocked, and all states and counties rebelled. Between ten and a month, Liu Heita, the God of Vengeance, once again conquered the entire Xia Dynasty.Li Shimin's victory in the battle of Mingshui was completely wasted. On October 27th, Liu Heita swaggered into his capital, Mingzhou, with the attitude of an immortal king. At the beginning of November, Cheng Damai, the governor of Cangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, abandoned the city and fled.At the same time, Li Yuanji, the king of Qi who was stationing troops in Henan, never dared to cross the Yellow River even though he had already received Li Yuan's order to enter the army. Faced with the return of this terrible god of vengeance, the generals of the Tang Dynasty in the north and south of the river seemed to be shrinking their heads. At this time, Wei Zheng was speaking to someone in the Tai Chi Palace in Chang'an in a tone that could not wait for others—— Here's your chance, and it's your turn!