On March 21, 621, Dou Jiande led an army of 100,000, known as 300,000, and went straight to Li Shimin. Dou Jiande was still martial arts, and before the attack, he sent a messenger to inform Li Shimin, "I have set off, you will not stay away from Luoyang, and you will be responsible for all the consequences!" ”

Li Shimin was rushing to attack Luoyang, and when he received the news of Dou Jiande's attack, his head was doubled. Luoyang City can be broken overnight, but if you don't retreat at this time, it is likely to be surrounded by Dou Jiande outside Luoyang City, and then you will be attacked by the enemy, and the whole army will be wiped out. If you retreat, you can keep your peace, but your previous efforts will come to naught.

Li Shimin convened a combat meeting to hear the opinions of his generals. Xiao Yu, Qu Tutong and other generals advocated abandoning the siege and retreating to Xin'an to avoid Dou Jiande's front. Only Xue Shu and Guo Xiaoke, who were in charge of the room, advocated continuing to besiege Luoyang, and sent a team to guard the Tiger Pass, waiting for an opportunity to attack Dou Jiande. This is undoubtedly a bold idea.

In the face of the crisis, after thinking about it for a long time, Li Shimin made a decision that shocked almost everyone - besiege the city to send reinforcements and fight on two fronts. and decided to personally lead 3,500 light cavalry to guard the tiger prison and meet the Xia army.

3,500 cavalry against 100,000 people, with this courage, it is enough for Li Shimin to leave his name in the annals of history.

In the eyes of the generals of the Tang Army, Li Shimin's choice is undoubtedly nonsense. As the commander of the three armies, he confronted more than 100,000 troops with thousands of cavalry, and once he lost, the consequences would be unimaginable. Although the generals under his command continued to admonish, they did not shake Li Shimin's determination in the slightest. "Needless to say, it's settled!"

Why did Li Shimin make this choice that is related to the fate of the country so easily? Where did his determination come from?

This has to start with Liu Wenjing's death. Liu Wenjing was the first hero of the early Tang Dynasty to be killed, and his death was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the young Li Shimin. The generals and ministers who shared weal and woe, and the founding fathers who had made outstanding achievements in war, ended up like this just because of a drunken remark. Li Shimin had already faintly noticed a slight change, and it began to happen quietly between him and his father and brother.

As the supreme representative of the meritorious group, how to use the unification war to quickly accumulate capital and be invincible in his long political career in the future has become a survival choice that Li Shimin has to face. Therefore, in the face of Dou Jiande's 100,000 troops, when most of the generals under his command suggested withdrawing the army, Li Shimin salivated like a hungry wolf staring at fresh meat.

In Li Shimin's view, the two-front battle is certainly risky, but if Dou Jiande can be captured in one fell swoop and the living force of the Xia army can be annihilated, then the Hebei region can be recovered in one battle. The siege of Luoyang will be broken without attack. Unifying the world, almost in one fell swoop, such a result of the battle is too tempting, and such a record will be recorded in history forever.

Tiger Prison Pass is located in the territory of Bishui Town, 16 kilometers northwest of Xingyang City, Henan Province, and is the most important gateway to the east of Luoyang, which is extremely steep. Whether or not he can seize the Tiger Prison Pass before Dou Jiande has become the key to the battle situation.

The resolution was decided, and Li Shimin left Li Yuanji, Qu Tutong and others to continue to besiege the eastern capital Luoyang. He personally led Li Shixian, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Wei Chi Jingde and other fierce men and 3,500 horsemen to gallop through the tiger prison. Wang Shichong saw Li Shimin's army retreating eastward from the city, and he didn't know what kind of trick Li Shimin was playing, so he didn't dare to go out of the city to attack the remaining Tang army.

When Li Shimin arrived at the Tiger Prison Pass, Dou Jiande's Xia army had already set up camp twenty miles away, and was waiting for the envoy to the Tang army to come back to report the news, and the envoy had already been detained by Li Shimin.

When he arrived at Tiger Prison Pass, Li Shimin did not change his old habits, and still personally led a small team of people to spy on Dou Jiande's military camp. This time, Li Shimin asked the generals to lead people to ambush along the way. He appeared in the field of vision of Dou Jiande's reconnaissance cavalry with Wei Chi Jingde and two knights.

Dou Jiande's cavalry has not yet learned Li Shimin's methods, "Hey! There are a few Tang soldiers who have done it carefully, hurry up and send it to the barracks, maybe the general can reward me as a petty official. "The wishes of these cavalrymen are wonderful, but the reality is quite cruel. Before they could get close to Li Shimin's four people, they were shot by Li Shimin's arrow and fell off their horses. Li Shimin shouted, "I am Li Shimin, the king of Qin!" The scouts were so frightened that they hurried back to the barracks.

Li Shimin and the four of them were not in a hurry, and waited in place. I saw five or six thousand cavalry rushing out of the Xia army's camp. Straight to the four of them, the two horsemen who followed Li Shimin had never seen such a big scene, they were scared on the spot, and persuaded Li Shimin to say: "Let's go back quickly!" Li Shimin looked at the enemy army contemptuously and said: "I take a bow, respect virtue and hold a lance, even if there are millions of troops, I am not afraid of them!" ”

Li Shimin's braggadocio is a bit fresh and refined. When he saw that the two of them were already trembling, he said to the two of them, "Panic, go back first, and see if the two of us are broken." So he waited for the enemy to come near, and began to bend his bow and shoot arrows, one arrow at a time. Na Jingde was not brave, and in the face of more than 5,000 people, he had no fear, but rushed into the enemy formation, and assassinated more than ten people with a lance. The two of them pretended to be invincible and retreated.

Xia Jun didn't know that there was a deception, and when he saw the two retreating, he hugged him. Qin Shubao, Xu Shiyun and others, who were in ambush on both sides, rushed out and killed the Xia army by surprise, losing more than 300 soldiers.

Although Li Shimin won the first battle, he knew that the battle of Tiger Prison Pass was related to the overall situation, and he did not dare to be careless at all. After the war, he immediately wrote a letter to Dou Jiande, hoping that Dou Jiande would retreat despite the difficulties. "I've already you once, don't get involved in Wang Shichong's affairs anymore, hurry back! Otherwise, you'll regret that your mother gave birth to you! ”

Dou Jiande didn't know what kind of mood he felt when he received this letter, but he wanted to take advantage of Li Shimin, which was as difficult as heaven. The terrain of Tiger Prison Pass is steep, Li Shimin is guarding here, and Dou Jiande is unable to move an inch. Within a few days, the grain road was cut off by the Tang general Wang Junkuo. Seeing that the lost soldiers could not get half of the benefits, they could not advance, and they retreated, and they were unwilling, Dou Jiande began to feel that things were a little troublesome.

Dou Jiande had a chance to reverse this dilemma, and could even lead Li Shimin by the nose and ruin his previous careful layout. But he didn't take it, and let a great opportunity slip through his hands.

Just when Dou Jiande was in a dilemma, his sacrificial wine (equivalent to the president of the National University) Ling Jing gave him an idea, "Li Lao Er is a very clever person, he occupies the Tiger Prison Pass, and it is basically impossible to break the siege of Luoyang." Why don't we adjust our thinking, cross the river to the west, capture Huaizhou and Heyang, occupy the east of the river with great fanfare, and feint to attack the fortifications, which should be the best way at present. ”

Dou Jiande actually said stupidly: "Isn't Luoyang finished after capturing Hedong?" What a man he was! It's hard to protect yourself and still think about saving others, and you simply regard yourself as a living bodhisattva.

Ling Jing looked at Dou Jiande's sincere expression, and probably wanted to slap him twice. But he didn't have the impulse, it was a capital crime to beat the emperor, so he could only continue to explain to Dou Jiande, "In my opinion, if we do this, there are three benefits, first, the main force of the Tang army is in Luoyang, and we will take advantage of the situation to enter Hedong and threaten Guanzhong, and there will be no resistance." Second, the capture of Tang Land can increase our strength. Third, let's do it to his lair, Li Shimin will inevitably return to the army to rescue, and the siege of Luoyang will be relieved. ”

This is a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao, if Li Shimin does not retreat to relieve the siege of Guanzhong, Dou Jiande can turn fiction into reality and directly capture Chang'an. If Li Shimin retreats, Dou Jiande can wait for work at ease, and instead give Li Shimin a siege point to help. If Dou Jiande really adopts this strategy, the course of the entire history is likely to change. But Dou Jiande is just a troubled man who talks about righteousness, not a yin lord who creates a prosperous world.

At first glance, Dou Jiande also felt that there was no better way than this. It's just that at this time, there is a person who appears and completely disrupts the whole situation. This person is Wang Wan, who was sent by Wang Shichong to ask for help. Wang Wan knew that Wang Shichong of Luoyang would not last long, and Dou Jiande could not march for a long time, so he found Dou Jiande again, knelt down for Dou Jiande as soon as they met, and cried bitterly and asked Dou Jiande to march to attack the Tiger Pass.

Wang Wan has some means to do things, before he found Dou Jiande, he had already bought off the generals around Dou Jiande, and money once again exerted its huge power. Dou Jiande's generals said to him: "What does Ling Jing know about a stinky scholar? The most important thing now is to enter the Tiger Prison. ”

Wang Wan's kneeling and begging, and the urging of the generals, finally sent Dou Jiande to the ghost gate.

Compared with the two in the westward feint, it will be easier for the westward expansion to achieve strategic goals, and Dou Jiande also knows this. But he finally chose the path of storming the Tiger Prison.

This fateful choice stems from his character, which determines his fate. Dou Jiande is a person who remembers his commitment to righteousness, and has some chivalrous style of the ancients. Wang Shichong had been promised to help him break the siege, so when he chose the two roads, although he knew that it was more advantageous to go west, he still chose a decisive battle in order to fulfill his promise. This can be seen from the conversation he had with his wife. Dou Jiande rejected Ling Jing's suggestion, and his wife Cao knew about it, and Cao persuaded him that he should adopt Ling Jing's opinion. He said to Cao's family: "You old lady knows a lot, I have promised to relieve the siege for Zheng, how can you lose your trust!" ”

There is another reason, it is likely that Dou Jiande was bullied by Li Shimin in front of the Tiger Prison, and he really couldn't swallow this breath and wanted to compete with Li Shimin again. In the end, Dou Jiande chose the decisive battle of the Tiger Prison.