Chapter 3 Wei Zheng's wonderful plan to secure the world, Li Jiancheng won once

Wei Zheng's job at this time was to wash horses for the prince. The so-called prince washing horses is not managing the stables and washing horses for the prince, but the library director of the East Palace, in other words, the prince's staff. Undoubtedly, Wei Zheng, who is about to perform an eternal story with Li Shimin in the Zhenguan era, is not Li Shimin's person at this moment, but the best friend of Prince Li Jiancheng. Seeing the increasing prestige and achievements of Qin Wang Li Shimin in the past few years, Wei Zheng has always been worried for the prince Li Jiancheng.

A year ago, when Li Shimin was appointed as an unprecedented Tiance Admiral and established a government office, Wei Zheng felt that King Qin's power was unmatched for a while. Being named the General of the Twelve Guards and commanding the military power of the whole country made Wei Zheng realize that the prince's position was in jeopardy. If Prince Li Jiancheng doesn't do anything, sooner or later he will be replaced by King Qin. Wei Zheng felt a deep fear, for Li Jiancheng, and for his own future destiny. For this reason, Wei Zheng laughed from the bottom of his heart when the God of Vengeance Liu Heita was not annihilated by Li Shimin in one fell swoop, but soon made a comeback and became rampant again.

He originally thought that Qin Wang Li Shimin ate all the cakes by himself, but he didn't expect Liu Heita to make another one so soon. What a godsend! Wei Zheng then said to Li Jiancheng together with Crown Prince Zhongyun Wanggui: "The king of Qin has made great achievements in the world, and the Chinese and foreign countries have returned to his heart; your highness is in the East Palace because of his age, and he has no great achievements to subdue the mainland. Now that Liu Heitai is scattered and dead, everyone is dissatisfied. , Lack of resources and food, approaching with a large army, the situation is like a rotten one, Your Highness should attack it yourself to gain fame, because you will accept the heroes of Shandong (east of Xiaoshan), and you will be safe!" (Volume 190)

Li Jiancheng thinks so. I can finally feel proud! For several years, Li Jiancheng, as the dignified prince of the Tang Empire, was overshadowed by the brilliant light of Qin Wang Li Shimin.As many flowers, applause and praises as Li Shimin won, so much loss, resentment and unwillingness he endured accordingly.This prince is really useless!Look at the much-anticipated victory ceremony in July last year, it was simply Li Shimin's personal martial arts show!Look at his arrogant and majestic appearance, he didn't pay attention to anyone, not to mention himself as the elder brother, even his father Li Yuan probably didn't hold much weight in his heart.Li Shimin, Li Shimin, how dare you blatantly raise your tail to the sky?

On November 7th of the fifth year of Wude, when the crown prince Li Jiancheng asked Li Yuan with an expression of giving up, Li Yuan immediately felt a burst of heartfelt relief and a sense of relief. Yes, it's time for the prince to play. King Qin's weight is too heavy, what is more urgent and important than increasing the weight on the prince's side? Li Yuan issued an imperial edict that day, ordering Prince Li Jiancheng to lead an army to conquer Liu Heita. The position Li Jiancheng got this time was—marshal of the Daxingtai and Shandong Dao Marching Army in Eastern Shaanxi Province.This also means that all the generals and officials of the Tang Dynasty in the east of Tongguan are all subject to the control of Li Jiancheng, and he is given the right to make decisions on the spot.

On November 22, after learning that the army led by his brother Li Jiancheng had set off from Guanzhong, Li Yuanji finally mustered up the courage to fight a battle and defeated Liu Shishan in Weizhou (now Daming County, Hebei).On the twenty-sixth day, Liu Heitai led his troops to the south and conquered Yuancheng (to the east of Daming County); the counties and counties north of Xiangzhou were subordinated one after another, and only Tian Liuan, the general manager of Weizhou, was still holding on to the isolated city; They were besieged and attacked day and night. In mid-December, Li Jiancheng's army arrived at the Central Plains battlefield, joined forces with Li Yuanji, and set up camp in Changle (now Nanle County, Henan); Liu Heitai immediately turned around and went south to confront the Tang army.

At this time, Liu Heita never expected that this time he would be defeated without a fight. And will die in one defeat! Because Li Jiancheng actually fought a bloodless battle with him. Such a clever strategy was beyond Liu Heitai's expectations. This strategy was proposed by Wei Zheng. When the two armies were confronting each other, Wei Zheng said to Li Jiancheng: "When Liu Heita was defeated, all the generals were executed as soon as we caught him, and all fugitives were wanted, and their wives and children were also imprisoned, so we forced them to make a decision. Not long ago, King Qi Li Yuanji announced the amnesty order, but they couldn't believe it, thinking it was another trap. Now we should release all the prisoners of the Eastern Han Army, comfort them, and send them back Hometown, in this way, we can sit back and watch Liu Heita's tribe disperse without us doing anything."

Li Jiancheng acted according to his plan, so he did not confront Liu Heitai head-on. He lined up twice on the battlefield but withdrew his troops twice.Liu Heitai was full of suspicion, worried that Li Jiancheng had set up an ambush, so he didn't attack rashly. For him, the few days of Changle's confrontation were the last and most precious opportunity in his life. But Liu Heita missed it. Missed forever. In the next few days, Liu Heita's army began to run out of food. Even worse, Wei Zheng's strategy had a fatal effect on his troops.Some of the troops began to flee, and some soldiers even tied up their generals and surrendered to the Tang army.

Liu Heita really wanted to launch an attack and fight to the death, but he was also worried that Tian Liuan from Weizhou would attack his back.After thinking about it, Liu Heitai decided that the thirty-six strategy is the best. Keep the green hills here, no need to worry about no firewood! Return to the base in Hebei first, and rest for a while before talking. On December 25th, Liu Heita retreated towards Guantao (now Guantao County, Hebei) in the dark.Just as he withdrew to the Yongji Canal, Li Jiancheng's army followed him.Liu Heitai ordered Wang Xiaohu to line up with his back against the canal, and then personally urged the soldiers to build a pontoon bridge.As soon as the bridge was built, Liu Heita rushed to the west bank with hundreds of cavalry.But when he turned his head, the scene on the other side made him dumbfounded.

All the people who stayed on the other side obediently put down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender to the Tang army. Before Liu Heita came back to his senses, the cavalry of the Tang Army rushed up the pontoon bridge to kill him. The helpless Liu Heita had no choice but to flee with hundreds of soldiers without looking back. Just as more than a thousand cavalrymen of the Tang Army rushed to the opposite bank, the pontoon bridge erected hastily collapsed.Tang Jun had no choice but to stop pursuing. In the last days of Wude's five years, Liu Heita ran all the way north in the ice and snow - he had no choice but to continue exile in Turkic.

General Liu Hongji of the Tang Army sent by Li Jiancheng chased after him desperately. Liu Heitai didn't dare to stop for a moment, he was racing against death now. During the non-stop escape, Liu Heikai must have been thinking about a question-why did he lose without fighting? Even Li Shimin, who is invincible all over the world, had to kill him until the sky was dark, the sun and the moon were dark, and in the end he had to rely on such damaging moves as breaking the embankment and releasing the flood to eat up his main force; Without even fighting a battle, he was completely defeated with almost no effort. what is this? The only reason Liu Heitai knew was betrayal—thousands of people betrayed collectively when he was unprepared. But the question is, why did they betray? Liu Heita didn't know. Because he is just a general, not a politician.And the issue of popular support belongs to the political category, so it is beyond the scope of Liu Heita's thinking. It was precisely because of his keen grasp of this Achilles' heel that Wei Zheng waged an undefendable psychological battle against him. It was in this fierce heart-to-heart battle that Liu Heitai's men surrendered without a fight.In this sense, Liu Heita's second uprising was not defeated by Marshal Li Jiancheng of the Tang Army, but by politician Wei Zheng. In the first month of the sixth year of Wude (AD 623), when people all over the world were welcoming the New Year, Liu Heitai and his last hundred or so soldiers were still running on the road to escape hungry and exhausted. On the third day of junior high school, this group of fugitives who were hungry and cold ran to Raoyang (now Raoyang County, Hebei).Liu Heitai's subordinate Zhuge Dewei, governor of Raozhou, went out of the city to greet him in person. But Liu Heita didn't want to go to the city. Because he has become a frightened bird now. He doubted that anyone could betray him. For this person surnamed Zhuge, Liu Heita also did not trust him. But the man's true feelings eventually made him irresistible. Because Zhuge Dewei shed two lines of hot tears in great sorrow; shed tears for Liu Heita, king of Eastern Han Dynasty, who fell to this field, and shed tears for the boss Liu Heita who lost his trust in him. On such a frozen and windy morning, these two lines of clear tears can easily warm people's hearts. The ice in Liu Heitai's heart melted completely at this moment. He believes that there may be truth in the world. But at this very moment, how much he and his more than one hundred brothers who are suffering from hunger and cold need true love, how much they need a bowl of steaming millet porridge! Liu Heikai didn't resist the temptation of true feelings and millet porridge, so he let his guard down and walked into Raoyang City. Sure enough, Zhuge Dewei brought them steaming millet porridge and steaming white steamed buns. Liu Heitai and his brothers had just drank half a bowl of porridge, and just took a few bites of steamed buns, when the attentive Zhuge Dewei quickly brought them something else. Steel knife! Everyone had a shining steel knife on their necks.Looking at the cold white light on the blade, Liu Heitai felt a kind of dizziness of despair for the first time in his life. When Liu Heikai and his younger brother Liu Shishan were escorted to Mingzhou to be beheaded, the god of vengeance looked up to the sky and sighed, and said something very unheroic.He said: "I used to grow vegetables well in my hometown, but it was Gao Yaxian and his gang who brought me to where I am today!" Obviously, Liu Heita did not understand the issue of popular support until his death, and he did not understand the root cause of his rapid rise and sudden defeat until his death. In fact, there are two fundamental reasons why Liu Heitai's first uprising was so powerful and invincible: First, although the Dou Xia regime has collapsed, its ruling foundation in Hebei for many years is still very solid.In other words, although Li Tang eliminated Dou Jiande in one fell swoop by virtue of the Battle of Hulao, and brought down Qi Shanxing, Queen Cao, Cao Dan and other high-level figures of the Dou Xia regime, and destroyed the ruling core of the Dou Xia regime, he did not really To eradicate the deep-rooted forces of the middle and lower levels of the Xia Dynasty in Hebei, and in other words, it is impossible for the Li and Tang courts to completely subdue the hearts of the people in Hebei through a victory in a battle.What's more, the Battle of Hulao was originally an external battle conducted by Dou Jiande when he left his homeland. For most generals and soldiers and civilians in Hebei, the bloodshed, pain and trauma caused by the war did not affect them. Suddenly accepting defeat, asking them to abandon the old and welcome the new overnight, bow their heads to Li Tang and show their loyalty, this is really a bit difficult for others. Secondly, after the collapse of the Dou Xia regime, the policies adopted by the Li Tang court towards Hebei seemed to be suspected of high pressure. Dou Jiande’s old department could not feel Li Tang’s sincerity in recruiting and recruiting them, nor could they see the corresponding real support. Interests, so there is every reason to be dissatisfied with Li Tang and feel uncertain about the future. Under such circumstances, it is logical to return to the old business.What's more, the folk customs in the land of Yanzhao have been strong since ancient times, and the people in Hebei have always been very satisfied with the Dou Xia regime. Therefore, Li Tang's high-pressure policy is no different from pressing a strong spring to the end. In the end, these people will naturally be highly rebound. Therefore, it is inevitable that Liu Heita and others will rise up again. Li Tang won the battle of Hulao too easily, and the price is that he has to go back and make up for another battle. In short - Hebei has not shed enough blood! At the same time, the Li and Tang courts must also adjust their tough Hebei policy, and change the high pressure into real appeasement, so as to eliminate the external factors of the Hebei rebellion.We saw that Wei Zheng grasped this point precisely, so he actively adopted a pacification policy, quickly released the pressure of the spring, and dispelled its ability to rebound, thus prompting Liu Heita to lose the support of his followers overnight.Wei Zheng's cleverness is that he knows that the Hebei issue is ultimately a political issue. Therefore, it is far more cost-effective and more efficient to solve it by political means than by military means.Of course, Li Shimin first defeated Liu Heitai and his followers in the military, so that all the blood that should be shed in Hebei was shed. This definitely paved the way for Wei Zheng to take political measures in the future. As for Liu Heita, of course he does not have the ability to see all of the above clearly. If Liu Heita could still be called a hero in the chaotic times of the late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, then he can only be regarded as a half-hero. The problem is not his ultimate failure, because there are many heroes in history who are glorious despite defeat.The key is that Liu Heita lacks a spirit of seeing death as home and a consistent belief in life. That's why he said that kind of unheroic words before his death, which wiped out his fame for the rest of his life. It is not shameful for a person to fail, what is shameful is that he loses courage and faith in the face of failure, leaving only a face full of regret and resentment. So in the end we can only say that the ending of Liu Heita, the God of Vengeance, is really not pretty enough.