Who is Wang Junhuan? At this time, he was the governor of Liangzhou (now Wuwei City, Gansu Province) and the envoy of Hexi Jiedu, and he was the commander of the frontline against Tubo.

After Zhang Shuo withdrew, he said to Zhongyuan Qianyao: "Wang Junhuan has courage and no strategy, and has always wanted to fight a big victory to seek merit, if he reconciles, his idea will not succeed, I expect him to ask the emperor for a battle." “

Zhang was right: when Wang Junhuan Jin saw Li Longji, he really asked the emperor to fight with Tubo, and he promised that he would win.

Zhang said that what he didn't expect was that Wang Junhuan won!

In the winter of the 14th year of Kaiyuan, the Tibetan general Xinuoluo Gonglu attacked Dadougu (now south of Shandan County, Gansu Province), advanced to Ganzhou (Zhangye City, Gansu Province), plundered the local people, and retreated south after robbing many cattle and sheep.

This was a trap laid by the Tang army, and the Tang army knew that the enemy was coming, and deliberately let them in to rob. In fact, the Tang army had already sent people to take a detour into the Tibetan border from a small road, and set fire to burn all the grass and trees along the way on the road that the Tubo army had to pass on on its way back. At this time, it is winter, the grass and trees are dry, and a large area of grass is burned at once.

The Tibetan army carried a large amount of booty, elated, and prepared to return from the same way. Unexpectedly, at this time, it snowed heavily, and many people in the Tibetan army were frostbitten or even frozen to death, and finally arrived near the Jishi Army (now near Guide County, Qinghai Province), and when they were about to go west and continue to advance, they found that the grass and trees along the way had been burned by the Tang army, and the war horses had no grass to eat, and more than half of them starved to death. The Tubo army then ordered the main force to ride lightly on the remaining war horses and quickly cross the Qinghai Lake to the west, and the troops behind the palace led the heavy cattle and sheep along the northern foot of the Dafei Ridge (now the southern mountain of Qinghai Lake) to advance slowly.

However, it is said that after the Tang army set up a good situation, Wang Junhuan led the army from Liangzhou to the south, and Zhang Jingshun, the governor of Qinzhou (now Tianshui City, Gansu), led the army to the west, and the two joined forces. When the allied forces reached Qinghai Lake, the lake was completely frozen, so they crossed the lake on ice and reached the west bank of Qinghai Lake, preparing to completely annihilate Tibet. Unexpectedly, the main force of Tubo had already moved away, and only the troops of the palace were left, which were naturally not the opponents of the Tang army. The Tibetan army was defeated, and a large number of military supplies and livestock were captured by the Tang army.

In this battle, the Tang Army had a good strategic layout. However, the tactical execution was not effective, so the main force of the Tubo army could not be captured, so this victory was to be discounted. But Wang Junhuan still played this is a big victory, and Li Longji is very happy to see the music, because the prime ministers are against the war. Only he persisted, and the result was a big victory (the emperor himself thought so). Li Longji ordered the promotion of Wang Junhuan to the rank of general of Zuo Yulin, and granted his father Wang Shou the retirement of the Shaofu Eunuch (from Sanpin) as a reward for Wang Junhuan.

However, Zhang said that there is still merit in his military opinions, and what happened next proved that Wang Junhuan was indeed not a truly first-class general, and his previous success had an element of luck.

On September 7, the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Tubo army attacked again, and the general Xinuoluo Gonglu directly crossed the Qilian Mountains and attacked Guazhou (Anxi County, Gansu Province), which was located at the top of the Hexi Corridor. This place is less than 200 kilometers away from the junction of Gansu and Xinjiang), broke through, and captured Guazhou Thorn Shi Tian Yuanxian and Wang Junhuan's father Wang Shou (less than a year after Wang Shou was made a young government supervisor, ironic!). Then he went south and captured the Yumen army (present-day Yumen City, Gansu Province), and then released the monks who had been captured in Yumen, let them return to Liangzhou, and told Wang Junhuan that he said:

"The general usually thinks that he is loyal and invincible, but now that the opportunity has come, please lead the army to fight to the death with our Tubo. How about reporting to the country and saving your old father? ”

In response to the provocation of the Tubo people, Wang Junhuan became the grandson of the turtle this time. I could only climb the city wall of Liangzhou, look at the west and cry, and dare not send troops.

Another unit of the Tibetan army, led by the general Candle Dragon Mangbuzhi, attacked Changle County (now unknown), a small city west of Guazhou, and the county ordered Jia Shishun to lead the garrison army to hold on, but the Tubo army could not take it; At this time, Xinuoluo Gonglu had already broken through Guazhou, so the Hui army attacked Changle County together. After a fierce attack for more than ten days, unable to take it, the Tubo army was exhausted, and sent someone to tell the county order:

"Changle is a lonely city, without reinforcements, it is bound to fall, it is better to surrender in exchange for the safety of the soldiers and civilians of the city."

Jia Shishun refused!

The Tibetan army then attacked again, but still could not take the city, so they said to the defenders of the city: "Since you are unwilling to surrender, you give us the gold, silver and jewels in the city, and we will retreat." ”

Jia Shi obeyed the order of the soldiers guarding the city to strip and send each other, and Xi Nuoluo Gonglu knew that the city was poor and had no oil and water to fish, so he destroyed the city of Guazhou before leaving. (The stripping section is both funny and sad; On the one hand, it shows the spirit of Chinese people who are happy in suffering, and on the other hand, it also makes me feel that Chinese actually have no shortage of black humor)

After Jia Shishun waited for the Tibetan army to leave, he immediately collected weapons, repaired the damaged parts of the city wall, and made defensive preparations.

Sure enough, the retreat of the Tubo army was a strategy to lure the enemy, and soon after he sent his elite cavalry back to the city, but Changle City had already prepared and had a strong defense, so he had to really withdraw the army.

Compared with the brave and resourceful county order, our marshal can show his original form this time. But it's okay to lose face, it's really not worth losing your life, but it's not the enemy who caused Wang Junwan to pay the price of his life, but his evil deeds!

This story has to start from the reign of the Great Khan of the Eastern Turkic Empire, Ashinamosi. At that time, the Eastern Turks were powerful and forcibly occupied the land of the original Tiele tribe (now Mongolia), and the four tribes of the Tiele tribe, including Huifu/Qibi/Sijie/Hun, were forced to move south, cross the desert, and move to the Hexi Corridor.

When Wang Junhuan was a young man or a commoner, he often traveled between the four tribes, and the leaders of the four tribes looked down on him and despised him very much (under normal circumstances, it should be that Wang Junhuan had some dishonest behavior to be discovered). Later, after Wang Junhuan became the envoy of Hexi Jiedu, he reported personal grievances, often picked the small faults of the four tribes, and then cited the law to sanction, the leaders of the four tribes could not bear it, and were very resentful, so they sent envoys to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to shout grievances to the imperial court, asking for justice.

When Wang Junhuan heard the news, he panicked and didn't know what to do. Judge Song Zhenjian yì:

"If you don't do it, you don't do it! We are now at odds with the four tribes, and if the emperor orders us to investigate them, we will be guilty. It is better to inform the court first, the four tribes have the intention of rebellion, and let the court order them to be dealt with, so that our crimes can be covered. ”

Wang Junhuan felt that Song Zhen's words were reasonable, and hurriedly sent people to Chang'an. Report to the emperor in advance: "The four tribes are unruly, secretly preparing, and have an attempt to rebel. ”

The imperial court received news from both sides, and did not know which one was correct. So he sent eunuchs to Hexi to investigate, and Wang Junhuan bribed the eunuchs in charge of the investigation. So in the end, the eunuch investigation reported that the four tribes did have an attempt to mutiny.

Li Longji ordered Wang Junhuan to arrest the leaders of the four tribes and exile them to remote prefectures and counties, namely:

The leader of the Uighur tribe. Hanhai Metropolitan Governor "Yao Luo Ge Chengzong" exiled to Yuzhou (Shangsi County, Guangxi Province)

The leader of the Hun tribe, "Dade" exiled to Jizhou (Ji'an, Jiangxi Province)

The leader of the Qibi tribe, the governor of Helan "Chengming" was exiled to Tengzhou (Tengxian County, Guangxi Province)

Sijie tribal leader, Governor Lushan "returned" to exile in Qiongzhou (Ding'an County, Hainan Province)

After Wang Junhuan did this immoral thing, he was proud, but he didn't know that it would make him pay a huge price.

Not long after the Tubo army attacked Guazhou, in order to eliminate the Tang army in the Hexi Corridor in one fell swoop, the Tubo army sent people to the Eastern Turkic Khanate from the trail, hoping that the other side would send troops to flank the Tang army together. This is a very vicious tactic, once successful. The situation of the Tang army was about to be very critical, and after Wang Junhuan got the news, he personally led the elite cavalry to ambush near Suzhou (now Jiuquan City, Gansu Province), intercepted the Tibetan envoys, and successfully resolved the crisis.

Unexpectedly, on the way back to Liangzhou, when the class teacher walked near the Gongbi Post Station in the south of Ganzhou City, Yao Luo Ge Chengzong, the nephew of Yao Luo Ge Chengzong (that is, the head of the Hui tribe mentioned above), had already led the warriors of the Hui tribe to ambush and attack here, and captured the judge Song Zhen first. Dig out his heart, and then continue to attack Wang Junhuan and his guards. Because the Hexi Corps was still in the rear, Wang Junhuan had less than 100 guards with him, and after a day of hard fighting. All the guards were killed, Wang Junhuan was captured alive and beheaded, at this time the army of the Hexi Corps arrived, Yao Luoge was defeated, so he abandoned the corpse and went to Tibet.

After Wang Junhuan was killed. The Hexi Corps had no leader, and in order to stabilize the morale of the army, the imperial court urgently made three arrangements:

(1): Appointed Pei Kuan, a former member of the Criminal Department, as a judge, and urgently went to Liangzhou to be responsible for the military and political affairs of the Hexi region with Niu Xianke, the former judge of Hexi Jiedu.

(2): Appointed the former general Zuo Jin Wuwei and Li Yi, the king of Xin'an, as the deputy ambassador of Shuofang Jiedu; Xiao Song, who was also the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, was transferred to the deputy ambassador of Hexi Jiedu.

(3): Zhang Shougui was appointed to the post of Guazhou Thorn Shi, and this appointment was recommended by Xiao Song.

It was during his tenure as the Guazhou Assassin that Zhang Shougui showed his outstanding military talent.

Zhang Shougui rushed to Guazhou from the Jiankang army, at this time the city wall of Guazhou has been destroyed by the Tubo army, Zhang Shougui mobilized the remnants of the army and the nearby residents, immediately built the city wall, when the template was just erected, the Tubo army suddenly came to the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city were panicked, their hearts and minds were broken, and they didn't know what to do. Jang Shougui gathered everyone and said:

"There are many of them, there are few of us, and the fortifications of the city wall have not yet been completed, if we face off directly, we will definitely lose, even if we want to escape, the vicinity of Guazhou is all loess, the terrain is flat, and there is nowhere to hide. can only make a strange move, make a bold move, or have a turnaround. ”

After the Tibetan army was assembled and ready to attack the city, it suddenly heard the music of the silk and bamboo orchestra in the city, and a banquet was held on the city tower, drinking and having fun. The Tibetan army was suspicious, suspecting that Zhang Shougui had set a trap to attack the city in Tibet, and then attacked it with ambushes, so he retreated a little and stationed at a distance from the city to observe the movement.

Zhang Shougui saw this situation in the city tower and said to his subordinates: "Open the city gate, we will lead the army in the city and attack the enemy!" ”

The subordinate generals felt strange, so they said: "My lord said just now, we have few people, and there are many Tibetans, so we can't fight directly, why do you want to lead the army out of the city now and fight the enemy head-on?" ”

Zhang Shougui said:

"You don't know, the Tibetan army suspects that I have been prepared, so I temporarily retreat from the city, I want to know our movements, if we don't fight, the Tibetan army will lead the army to attack later, and we will have no chance of winning; If you take advantage of the opponent's uncertainty and launch an attack, you may have a good chance to win. ”

So he ordered all the defenders of the city to assemble as the vanguard, and at the same time to collect all the horses, camels, and merchants of the city, and ordered them to ride horses or camels, and each of them to carry a banner, and follow behind the vanguard troops, and rush out of the city together.

The Tubo army had just retreated to the garrison site and was about to set up camp, but unexpectedly, the Tang army suddenly attacked in a big way, covering the sun with flags and dust, and I don't know how many men and horses. The Tubo generals were in a hurry and quickly ordered to retreat, and Zhang Shougui led the army to chase and kill for a while before returning to Guazhou.

After the Tibetan retreated, Zhang Shougui began to build a city and govern Guazhou.

Anxi, where Guazhou is located, is an inland desert climate, recently I went to Dunhuang, which is very close to Anxi, the climate is very dry, the annual rainfall does not exceed 40 centimeters, and even the grass can't grow.

The local area can only rely on snow water to irrigate the fields, but due to the infestation of Tibet for many years, the canals and weirs have been destroyed, and there are no forests in the local area, and it is not easy to find timber to repair water conservancy projects, so agricultural production will encounter severe difficulties. Zhang Shougui attached great importance to this, and quickly organized manpower and material resources to repair the canals and weirs, so that the waterways could be unblocked, so as to facilitate irrigation, and promote the restoration and development of agricultural production.

It is said that in order to allow the people to resume production as soon as possible, Zhang Shougui once set up an altar to pray to the gods, but that night there was a flash flood, and a large number of trees flowed down the river until the city was down, and Zhang Shougui used it to repair the weir. Although this incident may be fictional, Zhang Shougui's spirit of serving the country and the people is still worthy of praise.

After the resumption of agricultural production, Zhang Shougui called on the diaspora to return and build a post station so that the merchants and travelers could stop. Guazhou was originally a necessary place on the Silk Road, but with the efforts of Zhang Shougui and the local military and civilians, it gradually restored its original appearance and regained its former prosperity.

In order to reward Zhang Shougui's merits, the imperial court upgraded Guazhou to the governor's office, and Zhang Shougui was promoted to the governor of Guazhou.

Tubo attacked the Hexi Corridor several times, all of which were led by the general Xi Nuoluo Gonglu, whose people were both wise and brave, and their prestige was far and wide, and Xiao Song thought that if he did not get rid of him, it would be difficult for the Tang army to take advantage.

In order to get rid of Xinuoluo Gonglu, Xiao Song sent people to Tubo to spread rumors, saying that Xinuoluo Gonglu had conquered several times, and although he won, he did not take advantage of the victory to drive straight into the heart of the Tang Dynasty, because he had reached an agreement with the Tang Dynasty to use the war to expand his strength, and his ultimate goal was to seize the throne of the king of Tubo. As soon as this rumor broke, the king of the city of Luo (the capital of Tibet, present-day Lhasa, Tibet) was shocked and immediately recalled Sinolo Gonglu and planned to have him killed. The Tibetan army was demoralized when they heard that their commander was gradually being killed, while the Tang Dynasty was overjoyed when they heard the news and began to prepare to turn defense into attack.

At the beginning of July of the 16th year of Kaiyuan, the Tubo general Xi Moulang led an army to attack Guazhou, and Zhang Shougui, the governor of Guazhou, held the city to attract the opponent's troops. And in fact, another large army of the Don army was ready to attack. (To be continued.) )