The strife of kings

In May 618, Li Yuan ascended the throne as emperor in the Taiji Palace, established the Tang Dynasty, and changed the Yuan Dynasty. However, at this time, the smoke of the world was not extinguished, and the flames of war were frequent, and Li Tang's territory was limited to Guanzhong and parts of Hedong.

Li Yuan was not the only one to claim the title of emperor, at that time there were more than 200 rebel groups that claimed hegemony in the land of the Great Sui Empire. You must know that during the period of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, there were only more than 190 counties in the empire, and the Sui Dynasty implemented the county system, and the counties were equivalent to provinces, which meant that there was an average of one group of rebel militants in each province. In the early years of martial arts, these social bastards did not pay attention to martial arts at all, and they fought around with machetes all day long, collecting protection money from the common people in various names. If the common people don't want to starve to death, they can only join the team of bastards and rob the common people who have not paid protection money.

The power of these social bastards is big and small, and there are only a few who really have the strength to compete with Li Yuan. And those bastards with little power are nothing more than trying to take advantage of the chaos in the world to fish in the troubled waters and make a fuss, so as to make some political capital and prepare for the possible victor.

Looking at the world that had become a mess, Li Yuan made a small calculation. For the minor rebels, officials of the Sui Dynasty, and the gentry class, Li Yuan tried his best to unite them into his own camp, and the method was still simple and rude, sending officials with hats and amnesty. The official hat did not cost a penny of his own money, and the rebel leaders who had opposed him were amnesty, which made many rebels change their banners into the Tang Army.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan quickly unified the national power because, to a large extent, he established himself as a tolerant and trustworthy social big brother.

Li Yuan has accepted many younger brothers, and the number of thugs has increased exponentially, making him a little ambitious, "Our goal is the sea of stars, not a few cabbage potatoes, only those vegetable sellers who have no foresight will stare at cabbage potatoes...... It's time to go and collect protection money across the country! ”

At this time, there are still the following social big brothers in various places:

Xue Ju, the eldest brother in Gansu in Northwest China; Liang Shidu, the eldest brother of the north, the Turkic vassal of the Turkic vassal; Liu Wuzhou, the eldest brother in northern Shanxi; Dou Jiande, the eldest brother in central and southern Hebei; Li Mi, the eldest brother in Henan to the east of Luoyang; Luoyang eldest brother Wang Shichong; Killed Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and occupied the Yangtze River basin of the Huai River, the capital of the Yangtze River, and the Da Da Yu culture; Li Zitong, the coastal brother of Jiangsu; Du Fuwei, the eldest brother in Nanjing; The big brother who controlled the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and most of southern China.

None of these big brothers in society are vegetarians, each of them controls a considerable amount of protected areas, and there are countless thugs and younger brothers, all of whom have the strength to cut and beat each other with Li Yuan.

Just when Li Yuan wanted to set sail on the sea of stars and go to the whole country to collect protection fees, one of the eldest brothers extended his hand to Chang'an, the capital of the Li Tang Dynasty that had just been founded.

This big brother is Xue Ju.

Xue Ju is a native of Jincheng, Lanzhou, tall and big, a good horse archery player, and a captain of Jincheng Mansion, which is equivalent to an official in the army who has no real position. This kid's family is very rich, a proper rich second generation, if he behaves well in the army, he may be able to get a half-official position, marry a wife, have a few children, and live a very leisurely life. But he likes to make friends with some heroic knights, and he doesn't do his job.

In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, caught up with the disaster year, and the common people who could not survive had only one way to rebel, and thieves in the Gansu area where Xue Ju was located sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and they came out of the ground. In order to quell the chaos, Jincheng County ordered Hao Ying to recruit thousands of soldiers, and appointed Xue Ju as a general, originally planning to let him take the bandits, but what he didn't expect was that Xue Ju hijacked Hao Ying instead, took everyone with him, raised troops against Sui, and called himself the overlord of Western Qin.

The Sui army tried to quell Xue Ju's rebellion several times, but was defeated by Xue Ju, and his power began to grow, gradually controlling most of the Gansu region, and finally proclaimed himself emperor and made Xue Rengao the crown prince. This Xue Rengao, like his father, is a good fighter in war, known as "ten thousand enemies". It's just that when he was helping the wind, he was defeated in the hands of Li Shimin.

Xue Rengao has a shortcoming, that is, he is extremely brutal and perverted. He once burned a man who refused to surrender, tore it and gave it to his soldiers. In order to collect protection money, he once hung all the rich people in Tianshui upside down and poured vinegar into his nose, which is a typical ruthless person. His father once warned him, "You are too cruel, if you don't learn to convince people with virtue, you will eventually endanger the country." Xue Juzhen said a prophecy, but this is a later story.

Xue Ju also wanted to capture Chang'an, but was taken by Li Yuan. When Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, Xue Ju's army was led by Xue Rengao, and they had already crossed Weishui and stationed in Fufeng, which was already very close to Chang'an City. It was here that Li Yuan sent Li Shimin to meet Xue Rengao. Li Shimin defeated Xue Rengao, relieved Chang'an of the threat, and drove him back to Gansu.

In June 618, Xue Ju sent troops to invade Jingzhou again, but Li Yuan still sent Li Shimin to deal with Xue Ju. Dramatically, Li Shimin led his troops out this time, and when he arrived at the places of Feng and Qi, he contracted malaria and was bedridden. Xue Ju marched into the high jaw, and Li Shimin was worried that his generals Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan would not be able to defeat Xue Ju, so they let them dig deep into the moat, build high walls, and not fight with Xue Ju.

Li Shimin also reminded the two generals, "Xue Ju, this old boy doesn't have much dry food, and he has run such a long way, and he is sleepy and tired, you just need to defend well and don't take care of them." When I'm cured, watch me kill them! Li Shimin's attrition tactics were a more effective way to deal with Xue Jujun's long-distance expedition.

Dealing with Xue Ju and Xue Rengao's father and son, Li Shimin still has a certain psychological advantage, and he confidently believes that as long as Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan do it according to their own deployment, there will be no problems. As soon as their illness is cured, they can be cleaned up. Li Shimin does have this strength, and his ideas are indeed in line with reality, but what he never expected was that Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan, the two second-hand goods, did not listen to him.

After Yin Kaishan came out of Li Shimin, he said to Liu Wenjing, "See, the boss simply looks down on you, so he won't let us send troops." Xue Ju heard that the boss was sick, he would definitely let down his vigilance, we should take someone to cut them down so that they don't dare to get hurt again! It also makes the boss re-recognize our abilities! ”

Who is Liu Wenjing? He was the number one hero in the early Tang Dynasty who persuaded Li Yuan to raise troops against the Sui Dynasty together with Li Shimin, and he was also Li Shimin's confidant, so naturally he could not be looked down upon by Li Shimin. Hearing Yin Kaishan say this, he couldn't help but be angry from his heart, evil was born to the side of his guts, his mind was hot, and he said, "him!" ”

The two brothers then led their troops out of the city, and in the southwest of Gaojaw, Chen soldiers set up a formation.

Xue Ju can dominate the people and become the boss in the border areas of Gansu where the people are fierce, but he is not an ordinary sword, gun, and cannon. Xue Ju watched the coaxing Tang soldiers lay out the formation unfortified, and it was estimated that he was happy in his heart, and he couldn't ask for a quick battle with the Tang army. Xue Ju divided a part of the elite troops and secretly hid in the rear of Liu Wenjing's army.

On the day of the battle, the two sides were in the middle of a battle, and Xue Ju's elite soldiers who were lying in ambush behind the Tang army suddenly began to attack the rear positions of the Tang army. The Tang army was flanked from front to back, and immediately pulled its hips, and about half of the Tang army was killed by Xue Ju, among which the generals Li Anyuan and Murong Luo were all killed.

The defeat of Gaojaw was almost the biggest defeat suffered by Li Shimin since Li Yuan sent troops against the Sui, and it also became a shame for his life. As a last resort, Li Shimin led the team back to Chang'an. Back in Chang'an, Liu Wenjing and others were immediately dismissed from office and punished.

Xue Ju occupied Gaojaw, and after two months of rest, at the suggestion of Hao Ming, he planned to take advantage of the favorable opportunity of the new defeat of the Tang army and the commotion in Guanzhong to directly capture Chang'an. I have to say that Hao Ming's suggestion to strike while the iron is hot hits the key point of the Tang Empire. At this time, Li Shimin, the second prince of the Tang Empire, who was the most capable of fighting, was still ill, Liu Wenjing was dismissed, and a large number of generals died in the Battle of Gaojaw. Xue Ju took advantage of the situation to advance into Chang'an, and the nascent Tang Empire could hardly resist Xue Ju's attack. Chang'an City is in danger.

Perhaps it was the heavens that favored the Li Tang Dynasty in particular, and when Xue Ju was about to attack Chang'an, he suddenly fell seriously ill and died. His brutal son Xue Rengao inherited the throne, and the plan to attack Chang'an was temporarily put on hold, and Li Yuan was given a chance to breathe.

In November, Li Shimin recovered from a serious illness, re-conquered Xue Rengao, and marched into Gaoqi. At this time, Xue Rengao, as his father Xue Ju said, had gradually lost his morality, and everyone rebelled against his relatives. When Xue Rengao was still the crown prince, he had a lot of unhappiness with the generals, and when he succeeded to the throne, the generals were even more afraid.

Li Shimin arrived at Gaojaw, Xue Rengao sent people to challenge Li Shimin, but Li Shimin couldn't hold on, he thought that he had been defeated once, and his morale was a little frustrated, and Xue Jun was in the limelight, and he had to wait until Xue Jun was proud and underestimated the enemy, and took them in one fell swoop. In this way, the two armies were in a stalemate for more than sixty days.