Chapter 46 Tian Khan regrets marriage: the end of Xue Yantuo

After Nuo Zhenshui's disastrous defeat, Xue Yantuo's Zhenzhu Khan lost all vigor. He decided to be a man with his tail between his legs and surrender to the Tang Dynasty. At least until Xue Yantuo regained his vitality, Yi Shiyinan would never dare to be an enemy of the Tang Empire again. In September of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan (AD 642), Zhenzhu Khan sent his uncle to Tang Dynasty, presenting 3,000 good horses, 38,000 pieces of mink fur and a rare agate mirror, requesting peace with the Tang Dynasty.Li Shimin asked the ministers for their opinions: "Should we conquer Xue Yantuo by force, or should we make peace with him?" Fang Xuanling said: "China is newly established, and the army is fierce and war is dangerous, so it is more beneficial to make peace with Xue Yantuo." Li Shimin then agreed to make peace with Xue Yantuo.

Later, Li Shimin sent envoys to Xue Yantuo and promised to betroth the emerging princess of the Tang Dynasty to Zhenzhu Khan, but there was one condition, Xue Yantuo had to release one person—Qi Mao He Li. How could this brave general who had pursued Fuyun Khan for thousands of miles in the Tuyuhun War and made great achievements for the Tang Dynasty fall into the hands of Zhenzhu Khan? Qihe Heli is a member of the Qihe tribe of the Tiele tribe. After the defeat of the Eastern Turks, he, his mother and younger brother led more than a thousand tribesmen to return to the Tang Dynasty. He served as the general of the left army and made many military exploits in the Tang Dynasty's conquest of Tuyuhun and Gaochang. , deeply appreciated by Tang Taizong Li Shimin.At the beginning of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan (AD 642), the Qibi tribe who had been resettled in Liangzhou showed signs of change, so Li Shimin ordered Qihe Heli to visit his mother and younger brother in Liangzhou, and at the same time appease the tribe.

Unexpectedly, after Qihe Heli arrived in Liangzhou, the Qibi tribe had already decided to defect to Xue Yantuo, and his mother and younger brother (the governor of Helan at the time) had already left Liangzhou and fled to Xue Yantuo.He Li was greatly shocked: "The lord has been so kind to us, why did you suddenly rebel?" The tribe threatened, "The old lady and the governor have already left, why don't you leave?" He Li resolutely refused, saying: " My younger brother is filial to my mother, and I am loyal to the king, and I will never go with you." As soon as the tribe heard this, they tied him up without any explanation, and forcibly escorted him to Xue Yantuo.

When he arrived in front of Zhenzhu Khan's big tent, the rebellious Qimao Heli suddenly pulled out his saber and shouted to the east: "How can the martyrs of the Tang Dynasty be humiliated in this thief's tent? My loyalty is as high as heaven, earth, sun and moon Learn!" After speaking, he cut off his left ear with a knife, expressing his determination to die.Zhenzhu Khan was furious and was about to cut him down, but after Mrs. Khan persuaded him, Zhenzhu Khan gave up angrily and locked up Qimao Heli. The Qibi tribe defected, the government and the public were in an uproar, and the officials all rumored that Qihe Heli was the leader.Li Shimin said: "This is definitely not He Li's idea." Some people said in a strange way: "A barbarian is a barbarian, and the smell is congenial. If Qia Heli comes to Xue Yantuo, wouldn't he be like a fish in water!"

Li Shimin's face darkened: "It's absurd! He Li is loyal and courageous, and his heart is like a stone. He will never betray me!" After Xue Yantuo's marriage envoy came to Chang'an, Li Shimin inquired in detail about Qie Heli's situation. When he heard that he cut off his left ear, Li Shimin couldn't help crying, and said to the left and right: "Did you hear that? He Li is what you imagined." Is that so?" Afterwards, Li Shimin ordered Xue Yantuo to release Qimao Heli on the condition of a marriage.In recognition of his steadfastness and loyalty, Li Shimin promoted him to General You Xiaowei.

In June of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (AD 643), Xue Yantuo sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty in accordance with the predetermined marriage agreement, and presented the list of marriage gifts to Tang Taizong: 50,000 horses, 10,000 cattle and camels each, and 100,000 sheep head. This betrothal gift is definitely heavy enough. If there are no accidents, Xue Yantuo and Datang's marriage will be considered as a marriage. But the accident still appeared. Because some people firmly opposed this marriage. He is Qia Heli. Li Shimin was quite displeased with Xue Yantuo's secret instigation against the Qibi tribe.So he actually regretted this marriage. It's just that the emperor said so well, it's really not easy to go back on his word.Li Shimin said with some embarrassment: "Since I have already agreed, as the emperor, how can I break my promise?"

Qi He Li was determined to disturb Huang's marriage anyway, so he had already thought of a countermeasure: "The minister didn't ask His Majesty to refuse, but deliberately postponed, and ordered Yi Nan to come to Datang to welcome the bride in person, even if he didn't come to Chang'an , at least go to Lingzhou (now Ningwu City, Ningxia). Yinan will definitely not dare to come, and then he will justifiably reject the marriage. Yinan is stubborn and violent. Once Datang does not make peace with him, his appeal will naturally Weakness, the people will have two minds. Moreover, the minister dared to estimate that Yi Nan is old and has few years to live. As long as he dies, the two sons will fight for the throne, and the country will be in chaos. At that time, His Majesty can sit down Make it!"

When Li Shimin thought about it, it made sense, so he followed his plan. However, to the surprise of Li Shimin and Qi Heli, Yi Shiyinan actually came. Regardless of the strong opposition of the ministers, he resolutely brought his dowry gift—hundreds of thousands of livestock, and headed all the way to Lingzhou. This time, he was determined to marry the princess of the Tang Dynasty. Seeing that Qi Heli's strategy failed, Li Shimin also felt a little dizzy. He didn't expect the old man Yi Shiyi Nan to be so courageous.If he arrives in Lingzhou as scheduled, Li Shimin can only bite the bullet and marry the princess.

However, no one thought that Yi Shiyinan's luck was too bad.Because Xue Yantuo is thousands of miles away from Lingzhou, and most of the places he passes are Gobi deserts, so even though he hurried all the way, wishing to put on a pair of wings, when he arrived in Lingzhou, he still missed the agreed time. And what's worse - nearly half of his hundreds of thousands of livestock starved to death due to lack of fodder. Li Shimin finally found an excuse, so he hastily issued an edict to reject the marriage. Yi Shiyi Nan had no choice but to admit that he was unlucky, and returned home full of grievances and resentment.

Tangtang Khan broke his promise and regretted his marriage? This matter immediately aroused an uproar in the court. Chu Suiliang, who was an admonishing doctor at the time, immediately went to Shu to express his strong opposition.He believes that since the emperor has promised to marry, he should not "have the intention of advancing and retreating once in a while, and have the heart of repentance". The anger of the people makes the people feel ashamed of breaking the promise", and "since the suspicion arises, there will be side trouble"!He finally said: "Your Majesty has been in the world for seventeen years. With benevolence and kindness, he has made common people and caressed the soldiers and barbarians with faith. The world is very happy. It is a pity why it can't have a beginning and an end? What's more, there are countless Yi and Di tribes in Mobei. How can China be exhausted?" Punish it? I believe that we should embrace virtue, so that the evildoers are in the barbarians and not in China, and the dishonest are in the other side or not here!"

In addition, the ministers also said: "The country has promised her marriage and accepted her betrothal money. You must not break your trust, Rong and Di, and you will be reborn." (Volume 197) But in Li Shimin's view, these views are all scholars' views and pedantic talk.For this reason, he gave a class on "international politics" to the ministers very bluntly. "You only know the ancient times but don't know the current situation. In the early Han Dynasty, the Huns were strong and China was weak, so they adopted the peace policy, which was correct at the time. But now China is strong, and the Rong and Di are weak. With a thousand infantry, we can defeat the Hu cavalry Tens of thousands. The reason why Xue Yantuo kowtowed to us and did not dare to be arrogant is that he wanted to take advantage of the power of China to overwhelm the surrounding tribes. If he joins forces with more than a dozen tribes such as Luo, Pugu, and Huihe to attack, Xue Yantuo will definitely be destroyed. These The reason why the tribes did not dare to mobilize is because Zhenzhu Khan was conferred by China. Now that the princess is married, Yi Shiyinan claims to be the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty. Who would dare to disobey other tribes? I will definitely bite back and become a disaster for Datang. Now that I refuse to marry, other tribes will know that he was abandoned by Datang, and it will not take long for him to carve up his khanate. You will wait and see!" The failure of this marriage made Yi Shiyi Nan feel ashamed. Unexpectedly, his hot face was stuck on Tang Chao's cold buttocks. Yi Shiyi was ashamed and annoyed, unable to vent his anger, so he had to vent his anger on East Turk.Of course, he didn't dare to mobilize as many troops as he did last time, but kept sending small groups of troops to harass the East Turks. Ashina Simo didn't want to be this khan at first, but now he was helpless in the face of Xue Yantuo's harassment, so he had to go to Shu Taizong and asked to cross the Yellow River south and move to the Hetao area. Li Shimin knew that Ashina Simo could not restrain his subordinates, so he agreed. In December of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan (AD 644), the polished commander Ashina Simo returned to Chang'an in despair.Li Shimin gave him the post of General Youwuwei as a comfort. At this point, the Eastern Turkic Khanate, supported and vigorously rebuilt by the Tang Empire, once again declared its disintegration. In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (645 A.D.), Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty disregarded the strong opposition of civil and military officials, and personally conquered Goryeo. Yi Shiyinan immediately sent envoys to Tang.Li Shimin knew exactly what Yi Nan was thinking, and said to his envoy, "Go back and tell you Khan that my father and son are now going to Korea. If he thinks he has the ability to take advantage of the situation, tell him to come quickly!" When Yi Shiyinan heard that Tian Khan's words were not in the right taste, he hurriedly sent another envoy to Chang'an to apologize, and said that he would send troops to help the Tang Dynasty fight Goryeo.Li Shimin waved his hand: It's okay to send troops, just tell you Khan to respect yourself. After the Tang army began to attack Goryeo, Quan Gaisuwen, the governor of Goryeo, sent people to lobby Xue Yantuo to let them go south to attack Chang'an, and lured them with generous gifts.In view of Nuo Zhenshui's disastrous defeat, Yi Shiyinan remembered Li Shimin's warning, and finally rejected Goryeo's lobbying. In September of this year, Yi Shiyi's male died of illness.As soon as he died, Xue Yantuo's disaster came. Because everything was just as Qihe Heli predicted at the beginning, his two sons really fought for the Khan position, and as a result, the youngest son of the concubine killed the eldest son of the concubine and established himself as Domi Khan. It is said that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, and Domi Khan is obviously such a calf.The first thing he did after he came to power was to send troops to attack the Tang Dynasty.Yi Shiyi Nan painstakingly maintained a peaceful situation for many years, but his son broke it just like that. And Xue Yantuo's doomsday also came. Domi Khan thought that the Tang Empire was using troops against Goryeo, so he had an opportunity to take advantage of it.But he was wrong, Li Shimin ordered the right leader general Zhi Sisili to station in the north of Xiazhou (now Beibaichengzi, Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province) before he went to Korea to guard against Xue Yantuo.Now that Xue Yantuo came to attack, Li Shimin ordered Zuo Wuhou Zhonglang General Tian Renhui to lead his troops to help. At the end of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (AD 645), Domi Khan personally led an army to invade the Hetao area.Zhishisili deliberately lured the enemy to go deep with old, weak and remnant soldiers, and then flanked Tian Renhui in Xiazhou territory, defeated Xue Yantuo's army, and pursued northward for more than 600 miles, until he was beaten back to Mobei, and the team returned victorious . The young and energetic Domi Khan returned in embarrassment when he sent troops for the first time. He was very unwilling, and within a few days he assembled an army again and made a comeback.At this time, Li Shimin had withdrawn his troops from Korea. Upon hearing the news, he immediately dispatched Li Daozong to Shuozhou, Xue Wanche and Ashina Sheer to Shengzhou (now Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia), Song Junming to Lingzhou, and Zhishisili to Xiazhou. Domi Khan didn't expect Tang Jun to react so quickly. Seeing that the opponent was ready for battle, he didn't dare to attack rashly, but he was unwilling to retreat, so he confronted Tang Jun in the north of Xiazhou. In the spring of the 20th year of Zhenguan (AD 646), after a winter rest, the Tang army launched a fierce attack on Xue Yantuo's army, defeated it again, and captured more than 2,000 people. After so many blows, Domi Khan finally learned how powerful Tang Jun was, and immediately left his army and fled on Qingqi. Seeing this young Khan so vulnerable, and so greedy for life and afraid of death, people in Xue Yantuo suddenly changed his mind, and the various tribes under his command began to move around. In order to stabilize the political situation, Domi Khan vigorously eliminated the old ministers of the former dynasty and cultivated his personal power.But at this juncture, doing so would be tantamount to hastening his own demise.Xue Yantuo's ruling and opposition parties were even more panic-stricken, and the chief of Huihe immediately joined forces with Pugu, Tongluo and other tribes to launch a mutiny.Domi Khan was caught off guard again, and Xue Yantuo suddenly fell into an unprecedented state of chaos. Everything is the same as the East Turks back then, and the signs of Xue Yantuo's subjugation have been fully revealed. In June of the 20th year of Zhenguan, Tian Khan made a decisive move. Li Shimin appointed Jiangxia King Li Daozong, Zuowei General Ashina She'er and others to march in parallel and make a large-scale northern expedition. At the same time, he recruited the Wuluohu and Mohe tribes to the east of Xueyantuo, and ordered them to attack Xueyantuo from the east by surprise. In the face of such a fatal blow like Mount Tai, how can Domi Khan be the opponent of Tang Jun.The few troops that were still loyal to him collapsed after a little resistance, and Xue Yantuo's whole country was shocked. Domi Khan quickly lost control of the situation, and then led thousands of cavalry to go to other tribes, but was stopped by Huihe cavalry halfway.Domi's head was soon beheaded, and his territory was completely occupied by the Huihe tribe, and the clan was also slaughtered. As soon as Domi died, Xue Yantuo's tribes fought and attacked each other, while scrambling to send envoys back to Tang.There were still more than 70,000 people in Domi Khan's old department. They all pushed Zhenzhu Khan's nephew Domozhi as the leader, and then automatically cut off the Khan's title, and sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to proclaim their vassals, requesting to return to his old place Yu North of Warlord's Hill. In this Northern Expedition, the Tang army conquered Xue Yantuo with almost no effort. The next question was how to deal with the remaining Xue Yantuo forces of Tumozhi. Li Shimin held a court meeting on this issue.As a result of the court discussion, the ministers generally believed that if the power of Tumozhi was retained, it would probably become big again in the future, causing endless troubles.At the same time, the Nine Tribes of Tie Le, who originally belonged to Xue Yantuo, heard that Tumozhi was going back to Dujun Mountain, and they were all worried about his resurgence, and strongly opposed it. Under such circumstances, Li Shimin certainly has no reason to keep this tail.He immediately sent Li Shiji to Mobei to solve this problem together with Tie Le Nine Departments.Before Li Shiji left, Li Shimin gave him a eight-character policy-"If you surrender, you will caress him, if you rebel, you will punish him." After Li Shiji arrived at Yudujun Mountain, one of the chiefs under Tumozhi led his troops to surrender.But Tuo Mozhi led the crowd to flee into the barren valley at the southern foot of Dujun Yu Mountain, neither resisting nor surrendering.Li Shiji sent his general officer Xiao Siye to surrender. Realizing that Xue Yantuo had no hope of returning to the country, Tuo Mozhi finally surrendered to Xiao Siye after a fierce ideological struggle. However, more than 30,000 of his followers still refused to lay down their arms.Li Shiji immediately ordered the army to attack. Of course, there is no suspense in this battle.Although Xue Yantuo, the last armed force, still resisted tenaciously, after being cut off by Tang Jun with 5,000 heads, the remaining 30,000 people no longer had the will to fight, and all surrendered. So far, the Xueyantuo Khanate, which had ruled the desert for more than ten years after the Eastern Turkic Khanate, finally perished completely under the fatal blow of the Tang Empire. In the first month of the 21st year of Zhenguan (AD 647), Emperor Taizong Li Shimin ordered the establishment of six Jimi Dudu Mansions and seven Jimi Dudu Prefectures in Mobei. The six mansions are: Hanhai Mansion, Jinwei Mansion, Yanran Mansion, Youling Mansion, Guilin Mansion, and Lushan Mansion. The seven states are: Gaolan State, Gaoque State, Jilu State, Jitian State, Yuxi State, Bawlin State, and Zhiyan State. Its scope includes present-day central and northern Mongolia and southern Russia. In April of the same year, Li Shimin set up the Yanran Duhufu (where the government is now located in Urad Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia), governing six prefectures and seven prefectures. Since then, with the surrender of other tribes in Mobei, the jurisdiction of Yanran Protectorate has continued to expand.In August of the same year, Guli cadres were subordinated, and the Tang Dynasty established Xuanque Prefecture in its place.Guligan is located on the shore of Lake Baikal in today's Siberia, where Suwu herded sheep in the Han Dynasty. In February of the 22nd year of Zhenguan (648 A.D.), the Jiegu tribe surrendered, and the Tang Dynasty established the Jiankun Dudu Mansion in its place.According to records, the people of the Knotbone tribe "all grew up, with red hair and green eyes", which means that they are tall, red-haired and blue-eyed, and obviously belong to the white race. This is the era of the great Tian Khan. Although this era is far away from us, it has become a historical monument. Today, the Tian Khan era is still worthy of every Chinese's admiration and admiration, because it can expand the territory of the Chinese Empire so vast and far away, and it can also incorporate many ethnic minorities with different cultures and races into China. The firm and broad embrace of civilization. In the process of the expansion of territory and the spread of civilization in the Tang Empire, we saw a strong and brave heroic blood, an open and broad cultural mind, and a nation that strives for self-improvement and enterprising. Spirit. No matter how long the years are, no matter how the world changes, the spirit of Tian Khan will be passed on in the blood of every descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and the era of Tian Khan will always be the immortal pride and glory in the memory of the Chinese nation.