The last fierce general, Xue Rengui, the Tang Dynasty Arrow God, has 102 in force, 101 in command, 90 in intelligence, and 80 in politics;

Xue Rengui is famous, the word is benevolent, and the word is in the world. He was born in the ninth year of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (614), born in the ancestral house of the Xue family in Hedong, and was a descendant of Liu Song and Xue Andu, a famous general of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. His great-grandfather Xue Rong, grandfather Xue Yan, and father Xue Liang successively served as officials in the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasties.

The Xue family fell into the middle of the road because of Xue Liang's early death. When Xue Rengui was a teenager, his family was poor and his status was humble, and he took farming as his business. He was preparing to move the graves of his ancestors, and his wife, Liu, said: "There are outstanding talents, and they can only be used when the opportunity arises." Now that the emperor (Tang Taizong Li Shimin) is personally conquering Liaodong and recruiting brave generals, this is a rare opportunity, why don't you strive for meritorious service? After being rich, it is not too late to go home and be buried. Xue Rengui agreed, so he went to see the general Zhang Shigui to enlist, and since then he has entered the army.

In November of the 18th year of Jeongguan (644), Li Shimin ordered Zhang Liang, the chief of the Pyongyang Provincial March, and Li Tao, the chief of the Liaodong Provincial March, to lead the water and land armies to attack Goguryeo. In February of the following year, Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo. In March, on the battlefield of Andi in Liaodong, Lang general Liu Junqiong was besieged by the Goguryeo army and could not escape. At this critical moment, Xue Rengui single-handedly stepped forward to take the head of a general of Goguryeo and hang his head on his horse. The Goguryeo army was frightened, so they withdrew, and Liu Junqiong was also rescued. After this battle, Xue Rengui became famous in the army.

In April of the same year, the Tang army advanced to Goguryeo, constantly defeating the Goguryeo defenders, and in June, the Tang army reached Anshi City (now Yingchengzi, southeast of Haicheng, Liaoning), and Goguryeo Moli Zhiyuan Gaisu Wen sent the generals Gao Yanshou and Gao Huizhen to lead an army of 250,000 to garrison in the mountains to resist the Tang army. After inspecting the terrain, Li Shimin ordered the generals to lead their troops to attack separately.

In this battle, Xue Rengui was dressed in white, holding a halberd and a gun, carrying a double bow at his waist, shouting and charging into battle, invincible, and the Goguryeo army was invincible. The Tang army followed up in a big way, and the Goguryeo army was defeated and beheaded more than 20,000 ranks. After the Battle of Anseong, Goguryeo was shocked, and the soldiers and civilians in Huangcheng, Yincheng and other places abandoned the city and fled, and it was cut off from people for hundreds of miles. After the war, Li Shimin specially summoned Xue Rengui, who was just an ordinary soldier at the time. Li Shimin gave him two horses, forty silk horses, and ten captives as slaves, and promoted him to guerrilla general and Yunquan Mansion Guoyi.

The Tang army returned to the division and continued to storm the city of Anshi, and the defenders held on to the fortified city. In addition, Li Tao made a lot of nonsense, and on the day of the city's breakdown, he slaughtered the soldiers and civilians in the city, so that the soldiers defending the city worked together even more. The Tang army could not overcome it for a long time, and then it snowed heavily in winter, and there was a shortage of food and grass, so it had to retreat.

On the way back to the division, Li Shimin said to Xue Rengui: "The old generals are all old and cannot bear the heavy work of field command. Every time I want to promote brave and strong generals, there is no one like you. I'm not happy to get Liaodong, I'm glad to get you. And promoted Xue Rengui to the right leading army lieutenant general, guarding the Xuanwu Gate.

On the third night of the fifth month of the leap month in the fifth year of Yonghui (654), heavy rain fell from the sky, flash floods broke out, and the flood rushed to Xuanwu Gate, and the guards and soldiers all fled. Xue Rengui said angrily: "Where is there an emergency situation for the Son of Heaven, and the people of the Su Guard are immediately afraid of death and flee?" Then he risked his life to shout to the palace to warn the inner palace, so that Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was able to avoid the disaster. Soon, the flood flooded Li Zhi's bedroom, and Li Zhi said gratefully: "Fortunately, it was you who avoided being submerged, and I knew that there were loyal ministers." So he gave Xue Rengui a royal horse.

In the leap month of the second year of Xianqing (657), Su Dingfang, the general of the Right Tunwei, marched into the Western Turks to conquer the rebellious Ashina Helu. Xue Rengui said: "The minister heard that the division is unknown, so the war will not succeed. Make it clear that the enemy in the world is a thief, then it is possible to subdue the enemy. Now Ni Shu relied on the talents he had always possessed, and did not want to be subservient to Helu, but he was broken by the thieves, and his wife, sons, and daughters were captured. Among the Han soldiers, there are family members of Nishu and others who have been defeated in the Helu tribes, and they will be confiscated into lowly status, and the way to dispose of them is to take them back and return them to Nishu and others, and they will still be rewarded the same. Then he sympathized with and took pity on the incident of Nishu and others being attacked in vain, and let the people understand clearly that Helu and other tribes were like thieves, and knew that His Majesty's grace was widely spread. Li Zhi listened to his advice and sent people to search for the Helu tribe and sent them back, so the people of the Nishu tribe asked to follow the Tang army to serve him.

In the third year of Xianqing (658), Li Zhi ordered Cheng Mingzhen to conquer Goguryeo, with Xue Rengui as his deputy general. Xue Rengui defeated the Goguryeo army at Guiduancheng (located in the area of the Hunhe River in present-day Liaoning) and beheaded more than 3,000 ranks.

In the fourth year of Xianqing (659), Xue Rengui and Liang Jianfang, Qibi He Li, etc., fought with the Goguryeo general Wenshamen in Hengshan. At that time, Xue Rengui held a bow and arrow, took the lead, rushed into the enemy formation, and all those who shot fell to the ground. Then, he fought with the Goryeo army in Shicheng, met the enemy general, and killed more than ten Tang soldiers, but no one dared to do it. Xue Rengui was furious when he saw this, and rode in alone and captured him alive. In December, Xue Rengui and Xin Wenling defeated the Khitan in Montenegro, captured the Khitan king Abgu and the following soldiers, after the war, he worshiped General Zuo Wuwei for his merits, and sealed the male of Hedong County.

In the first year of Longshuo (661), the Hui leader Po Yan, who had always been friendly with Tang, died, and Bisu, who succeeded to the throne, turned to be an enemy of Tang. Li Zhizhao's right general Zheng Rentai was the main general, and Xue Rengui was the deputy general, leading the troops to the Tianshan Mountains to attack the nine surnamed Tiele. Before leaving, Li Zhite gave a banquet in the inner hall, and said to Xue Rengui during the banquet: "In ancient times, there were people who were good at archery, who could penetrate seven layers of armor, and you can shoot five layers to see." ”

Xue Rengui responded to the order, put the armor and took the bow and arrow to shoot, only to hear the bowstring sound, and the arrow had passed through the five armors. Li Zhi was taken aback, and immediately ordered someone to take the armor and reward Xue Rengui.

After Zheng Rentai and Xue Rengui led their troops to the Tianshan Mountains, the nine surnamed Tiele supported more than 100,000 people to refuse, and ordered dozens of brave knights to come to challenge. Xue Rengui fired three arrows and killed three people, and the rest of the knights were afraid of Xue Rengui's divine power and dismounted to surrender. Xue Rengui took advantage of the situation to wave his army to cover up the killing, defeated the nine surnamed Tiele, and killed the pawns.

Then, Xue Rengui crossed the north to pursue the defeated army of Tiele and captured the three brothers of Ye Hu (leader). After Xue Rengui collected his troops, the army sang: "The general has three arrows to set the Tianshan Mountain, and the strong man sings a long song into the Han Pass." Since then, the nine surnamed Tiele have decayed and are no longer a border trouble.

Tiele has nine tribes, including Sijie and Duolange, who originally guarded the Tianshan Mountains, and when Zheng Rentai led the troops, they were afraid to surrender, Zheng Rentai did not accept them, and captured their families to reward the soldiers, and the enemies fled one after another. There was a report from the horsemen: "The enemy's military supplies, cattle, sheep and horses are all over the field, and they can be taken back." Zheng Rentai selected 14,000 cavalrymen, took off his armor and galloped lightly, passed through the desert, and arrived at the Xiancao River.

The people were so hungry that they fought each other and devoured each other, and by the time they returned to the barracks, there were only one-twentieth of the cavalry left. Xue Rengui also took the Tiele women captured by his subordinates as concubines, accepted a lot of bribes and gifts, and was impeached by the relevant officials to Li Zhi, who forgave Xue Rengui for his great achievements.

(End of chapter)