Chapter 44 Ding Ding Half Wall: The Fall of Xiao Liang (Part 1)

In the winter of the fourth year of Wude (AD 621), the situation in the world made Tang Gaozu Li Yuan mixed with joy and sorrow—the worry was the resurgence of Liu Heita and other rebel forces in the north and south of the river, and the joy was the smooth pacification of the southern half of the empire. Just as the Tang army from all walks of life was beaten to pieces by Liu Heikai in Hebei, the Tang army headed by Li Xiaogong, the king of Zhaojun, and Li Jing, the marching chief, finally captured the Nanliang emperor Xiao Xian alive in October of this year after several years of hard work, and wiped out the army in one fell swoop. The largest separatist regime in the South.

Even though Li Xiaogong, the prince of the clan, was the name of the clan prince Li Xiaogong who put down Xiao Liang and Ding Ding Banbi, everyone knew that Li Jing was actually the one who made the most of the first contribution. When Li Jing was first sent by Li Yuan to the south to conquer Xiao Liang, he was actually very useless, because Li Yuan didn't trust him. It can be seen from the official position he held at that time - Kaifu.The so-called Kaifu is just a casual official of the fourth rank, who has neither actual powers nor his own direct troops.Li Yuan asked Li Jing to go to the front to fight in such a capacity, not so much because he hoped that he would make great achievements, but because he deliberately gave him small shoes to look for opportunities to kill him.

To put it bluntly, Li Yuan still does not forget the old evil. If Li Shimin hadn't yelled to keep people under the knife, Li Yuan would have killed this hateful "attempted informant".Although Li Shimin spared his life for the sake of Li Shimin's face, Li Yuan didn't like him no matter what. Not long after Li Jing was sent to the front, Li Yuan finally got a chance to kill him. At that time, Xiao Liang's army was still very strong, so after Li Jing arrived in Xiazhou (to the west of Yichang City, Hubei Province today), he stayed there.Li Yuan immediately issued a secret edict to Xu Shao, the governor of Xiazhou, ordering him to behead Li Jing on the spot for "delay in advancing".

If this Xu Shao honestly carried out the secret order of the emperor, then there would be no famous general Li Jing in the early Tang Dynasty in history.If Xu Shao is just an ordinary bureaucrat who promises, then Li Jing can only become a small character who was underappreciated and died wronged in the end, fleeting like a bubble in the turbulent waves of history. Fortunately, Xu Shao, governor of Xiazhou, was not an ordinary bureaucrat. He is a virtuous person, and he has a heart of pity.He knew that Li Jing had millions of soldiers in his chest, but he always lacked the opportunity to display his talents, so he issued an edict and sent a letter to Li Yuan, explaining that the frontline battles are urgent and talents are urgently needed, so that Li Jing can make meritorious deeds and emulate others.It makes sense for Li Yuan to think about it after seeing the memorial.In order to unify the great cause, Li Yuan had no choice but to put aside his personal grievances temporarily, withdraw his life, and wait to see Li Jing's meritorious performance.

Having escaped the emperor's butcher's knife by chance twice in a row, Li Jing deeply experienced what it means to be on the edge of an abyss and walk on thin ice.He was soberly aware that he would never have a third chance.If he can't build up his exploits in time, then there's no reason for his head to stay on his shoulders. Li Jing looked up to the sky and sighed, waiting bitterly for the day when Xianyu would turn around.Soon, Ran Zhao, the leader of the barbarians in Kaizhou (now Kaixian County, Chongqing) gathered people to rebel and led his troops to attack Kuizhou (now Fengjie County, Chongqing). Li Xiaogong, king of Zhao County, fought against him, but was defeated by the barbarians.

The opportunity to show your skills has finally come!Li Jing took the initiative to invite Ying, and only brought a small army of only 800 people, and successfully broke through the camp of the barbarians; after that, he set up an ambush in a dangerous place, defeated the barbarian army ten times his own, and killed Zhaoze captured more than 5,000 people and put down the barbarian rebellion in one fell swoop.When the good news reached Chang'an, Li Yuan's surprise and surprise were beyond words.In order to cover up his previous injustice to Li Jing, Li Yuan said a very ingenious sentence to the officials at the court meeting. He said: "I heard that it is better to use it than to use it. Li Jing really shows its effect!" ")

This sentence not only praised Li Jing, but also praised Li Yuan himself.Because he said that Li Jing's record was the result of his deliberate use of aggressive tactics.The so-called "making merit is worse than making mistakes" means that instead of using meritorious deeds to motivate subordinates to make contributions, it is better to give him some pressure to make him feel that he has made mistakes, and then he will redouble his efforts to make up for his mistakes. This is certainly a very clever art of controlling people, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that the way Li Yuan treated Li Jing earlier was not the same at all.

But no matter what, through this victory, Li Yuan finally completely changed his view of Li Jing.He then issued an imperial edict to Li Jing, saying: "You will do your best with all your heart, and the effect will be outstanding! Although I am far away from you, I deeply understand your sincerity, which is highly appreciated; you should not worry about wealth." In addition to the publicly issued In the imperial edict, Li Yuan also specially gave Li Jing a hand edict, saying: "Don't blame the past, I will forget the old things for a long time!" This private and personal statement certainly shows the sincerity and enthusiasm for the reconciliation between the emperor Li Yuan and Li Jing, but it also expresses our sincerity and enthusiasm for reconciliation. It revealed that Li Yuan had really been brooding over those "old things" before.

In February of the fourth year of Wude, Li Jing, who was not very peaceful, began to erupt his suppressed energy for many years. He confidently presented the "Ten Strategies" to quell Xiao Liang to Li Xiaogong, king of Zhao County, and Li Xiaogong submitted it to the court.Li Yuan immediately adopted it, made Li Xiaogong the chief of Kuizhou, and ordered him to manufacture warships on a large scale and train the navy; So far, Li Jing finally has a title that matches his abilities and tasks.From this moment on, Li Yuan had entrusted him with the important task of pacifying half of the country in the south.

Thus began Li Jing's brilliant military career. In order to attack Xiao Liang with all his strength, the first thing Li Jing did was to try to relieve Tang Jun's worries.He suggested to Li Xiaogong that all the children of the barbarian leaders from all over Bashu be summoned to the Kuizhou headquarters to inspect their talents and appoint corresponding officials.On the surface, this move is a kind of preferential treatment and courtesy to the children of the barbarians, but in fact it is taking them as hostages to prevent the leaders of the barbarians from rebelling. On the eve of the Tang army mobilizing their horses and soldiers and about to launch an all-out attack on Xiao Liang, Liang Emperor Xiao Mian was doing something unbelievable.

He is disarming. The enemy is in front of him, but Xiao Mian is busy disarming his army, what's wrong with him?Out of your mind? No, Xiao Mian's brain was not filled with water, but his stomach was filled with water. Bitter water. Because the gang of heroes who followed him in the rebellion all regarded themselves as the heroes of the founding of the country, all of them were arrogant, with their nostrils turned to the sky, specialized in killing, and had no eyes on the court, which made Xiao Mian very troubled.In the end, he had no choice but to think of a way-to disarm the army on the grounds that the territory was peaceful and urgently needed to develop production, so that those arrogant soldiers and generals would all be dismissed and returned to their hometowns to become farmers. It is conceivable that this group of proud generals will never be reconciled to being deprived of military power.The younger brother of Da Sima Dong Jingzhen immediately gathered a group of people to launch a mutiny, but the news leaked and Xiao Xian suppressed it before it could be launched.At that time, Dong Jingzhen was leaving the town of Changsha, Xiao Mi wanted to cover it up by announcing the pardon of Dong Jingzhen's crime of consecutive sitting, and at the same time issued an edict to recall him back to the court, his suspicion was clearly revealed.Dong Jingzhen felt overwhelmed, so he secretly sent envoys to surrender to Li Xiaogong. And Xiao Xian, who was suspicious by nature, soon smelled the smell of rebellion, so he ordered Qi Wang Zhang Xiu to lead his troops to attack Dong Jingzhen.Dong Jingzhen wrote to Zhang Xiu and said: "Don't you see, 'Peng Yue was killed last year, and Han Xin was killed last year', but why are we attacking today?" Zhang Xiu ignored it and ordered the army to besiege Changsha.Dong Jingzhen was defeated, broke through the encirclement, and was killed by the generals under his command.Xiao Xian got rid of the worry in his heart, overjoyed, and immediately promoted Zhang Xiu to be the official minister.However, Xiao Mian's joy was quickly swept away, replaced by even greater worry and panic. Because Zhang Xiu had grown up again, he was "arrogant and arrogant, dedicated to power", and his arrogance made Xiao Xian unbearable. Xiao Mian had no choice but to plan to kill Zhang Xiu again. So far, the Xiaoliang Dynasty has completely fallen into a situation where the stalk beats the wolf and both sides are afraid. The emperor Xiao Xian was terrified, and the grass and trees were all soldiers. Yuan Xun is old and everyone is in danger and alienated from morality. Xiao Xian watched helplessly that the people's hearts and foundations of the dynasty were rapidly disintegrating, but he didn't know what to do. On October 7th of the fourth year of Wude, Lei Changying, the governor of Ezhou (now south of Wuhan, Hubei) in the Liang Dynasty, surrendered the city to the Tang Dynasty, which opened the prelude to the fall of Xiao Liang. The Tang army was divided into four groups. Li Xiaogong and Li Jing led more than 2,000 warships out of Bashu and went down the Yangtze River eastward; Li Yuan, the king of Lujiang, went out of Xiangzhou (now Xiangyang, Hubei); Yuanling County, Hunan); Zhou Faming, the general manager of Huangzhou, left Xiakou (now Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei) and attacked Xiaoliang from all directions. At this critical juncture of life and death, Xiao Xian made a major misjudgment of the battle situation.He believed that the water potential of the Yangtze River was soaring at this time, making it difficult to sail a boat, so he did not carry out defensive deployment in time.The main force of Li Xiaogong's Tang army went all the way like a broken bamboo, captured Jingmen and Yidu two important military towns one after another, and quickly reached Yiling (now Yichang City, Hubei). The gates of the Liang Dynasty were opened, and the capital Jiangling (now Jiangling County, Hubei) was suddenly exposed under the eyes of the Tang army. Xiao Mi panicked and ordered the general Wen Shihong to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to Qingjiang (now the mouth of Qingjiang River into the Yangtze River) for defense.On the ninth day of October, Li Xiaogong and Li Jing defeated Wen Shihong, captured more than 300 warships, and tens of thousands of Liang Jun were killed or drowned.The Tang army took advantage of the victory to pursue and entered Bailizhou (now a small island in the Yangtze River south of Zhijiang City, Hubei Province).Wen Shihong assembled the remnants to fight again, but was defeated again.The captain of the Tang warship drove straight in, and the front of the soldiers approached Jiangling.Gai Yanju, the general manager of Liangjiang Prefecture (now west of Changyang County, Hubei Province), immediately descended to Tang Dynasty with the land of five states. News of Wen Shihong's defeat and Gai Yanju's rebellion spread back to Jiangling, and Xiao Mian immediately felt the end was coming.It wasn't until this moment that he fully realized the consequences of his hasty disarmament - the only military force in Jiangling right now is only a few thousand Imperial Guards. How to defend Jiangling with such a little strength? Xiao Xian couldn't wait to send out the urgent Qin Wang Zhao to all places.However, at this moment, most of Xiao Liang's troops were far away in the south of the Yangtze River and south of the Five Ridges, and the distant water could not save the nearby fire. Xiao Xian had no choice but to order thousands of forbidden troops to board the ships and go out of the city to resist the battle. Li Xiaogong was about to launch an attack on the Liang army immediately, but Li Jing dissuaded him, saying: "This is Xiao Liang's last resistance force. They still have the will to fight, but they don't have a comprehensive defense plan. It is bound to not last long; we might as well stop at the south bank for a day and rest for a day." , Liang’s troops will definitely be scattered, and it is likely that some will remain to resist our army, and some will return to the city to defend; the troops will be weak, and our army will take advantage of the slack to launch an attack. There is no reason to be invincible. Fighting to the death, Chu soldiers have always been aggressive, so it is not easy to fight." However, Li Xiaogong did not listen to Li Jing's dissuasion.From his point of view, the Tang army was in full swing and sharp, and there was no need to worry about the enemy army of a few thousand in front of him.Therefore, Li Xiaogong immediately ordered Li Jing to stay at the camp on the south bank, and he personally led the elite to attack. As Li Jing expected, Liang Jun, who had no way out, had to fight desperately, and Li Xiaogong, who carelessly underestimated the enemy, was defeated and returned. When Li Xiaogong was defeated and fled, he discarded a large amount of military equipment, and Liang Jun soldiers abandoned their boats and landed one after another, looting the spoils.Seeing that the Liang army was in disarray, Li Jing immediately counterattacked and defeated the Liang army. Taking advantage of the victory, he pursued to Jiangling, entered the outer city, and quickly captured Shuicheng, capturing more than a thousand ships.Li Jing suggested putting these ships into the river and letting them drift downstream.The generals were puzzled and expressed their opposition one after another.They said: "What we gain from defeating the enemy should be used by me. How can I discard it and use it to capitalize on the enemy?" At this time, the gap between people is reflected. To be precise, the quality difference between a warrior and a generation of famous generals is here. In the eyes of generals who stick to the rules, warships are for war, how can they grab them and return them to the enemy? However, in Li Jing's view, these spoils of war had a greater purpose. They could be used to defeat the morale and fighting spirit of the Liang army downstream in one fell swoop, making them completely give up their plan to rescue Jiangling. This is called a soldier who surrenders without fighting! Seeing that the generals were still bewildered, Li Jing patiently explained: "Xiao Mian's base ranges from Lingbiao in the south to Dongting in the east. There are still a large number of troops. If we go deep alone, if we don't Conquer Jiangling and wait for the enemy's reinforcements for four episodes. We will be caught in a dilemma. Even if we have these warships, what effect will they have? If we abandon these ships and let them cover the river, Liang Jun from all over the world will see you In other words, they must think that Jiangling has fallen and dare not enter lightly; even if we send people to scout, it will take at least ten and a half months to go back and forth, and we will have already taken Jiangling by then." Only now did Li Xiaogong and the generals suddenly understand, so they followed their plan. When more than a thousand empty "ghost ships" drifted downstream silently and mightily, Liang Jun along the coast couldn't help but turn pale with shock. Their only reaction was——Jiangling fell, and the Liang Dynasty was over! This frightening and desperate news immediately spread in all directions in Liang Chao like wings.